Theoretical Immunology

[NHE]

I am glad to see that the Trump administration, with the new MAHA (Making America Healthy Again) Commission chaired by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., has taken the first steps to build a new future, a new paradigm, and is creating conditions for “ending the chronic disease epidemic.” Right now, the NIH is standing still, probably in an attempt to force the much-needed, disruptive change.

"Make America Healthy Again" is just an empty advertising slogan akin to "You deserve a break today." RFK Jr has neither any knowledge of medicine nor science. He does not posses the ability to make any progress in medicine. He has a history of heroin abuse and also has a dead worm in his brain. His conspiracy theory addled brain has killed people. He spreads lies about the measles vaccine that have killed many people. For example, his lies led to a measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019 which killed 83 people many of which were children. He promotes vitamin A as a measles preventative and treatment over the vaccine. This has led to children hospitalized for vitamin A toxicity which can be lethal. He has also slashed research programs in Alzheimer's, heart disease and diabetes just to name a few. Moreover, he has censored researchers in reporting their results about nutrition and ultra processed foods, the very field he purports to champion. With RFK Jr at the helm of Health & Human Services (HHS) US health science will likely be set back 70 years or more.

[Leonard]

Hi NHE,

Thanks for your reply. I appreciate the thoughtfulness you bring to these discussions.

I do think, though, that we’re looking at this from fundamentally different angles. What I’m proposing isn’t a conventional hypothesis to be tested within the existing framework of biomedical science. It’s a systems-level perspective—one that challenges not just individual assumptions but the overall structure of how we approach chronic disease.

We’re at a point where incremental science isn’t enough. The current standstill—and yes, even the chaos we’re seeing in institutions—isn’t just a disruption; it’s a necessary clearing of the ground. Paradigm shifts are rarely tidy, and this one will need courage, political will, and new organizing principles.

I know it can be hard to hold onto energy or optimism when dealing with MS—I’ve been there too. But it’s exactly people like you who help keep the conversation going, even when we disagree. So thank you for engaging.

Warm regards,
Leo

[DIM]

I don't know the exactly situation over there but these news look good to me.
The Food and Drug Administration will remove industry representatives from advisory committees and replace them with patients and caregivers, Commissioner Marty Makary announced Thursday.

It’s the latest effort by Makary and his boss, health secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., to reduce the influence of the pharmaceutical industry.

Makary announced the change during his first interview as commissioner, with former Fox News host Megyn Kelly. He spent much of the conversation with Kelly lambasting his agency for its ties to industry, and said he was shocked to learn that drug industry representatives are allowed to sit on FDA advisory committees (really???)

https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-a ... committees

[Leonard]

In light of Secretary Kennedy’s recent address to the World Health Assembly—where he openly criticized the WHO’s entanglement in bureaucracy and entrenched paradigms—it’s becoming clear that the old institutions of public health are losing credibility. In the U.S., the NIH is at a standstill. The MAHA Commission has been launched. Something fundamental is shifting. https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/us-withd ... .%E2%80%9D

With the U.S. now openly calling for structural change in global health institutions, it’s clear that the old ways are breaking down. In April, I sent a letter to the Presidents of the European Council and the EU Presidency urging them to prepare for the same shift—toward prevention, resilience, and a deeper understanding of chronic disease.


My core message was that we must go beyond clean air, clean water, and nutrition. We must start asking harder questions about cellular immunity, mitochondrial fitness, and the role of latent viruses like herpesviridae. There are growing signs—from Stanford to Vienna to Berlin—that we’re missing the true underlying picture. The time for deeper dialogue is now.

This recent publication from Vienna questions the dominant MS dogma and underlines how EBV may play a key role not only in MS but in other post-viral diseases:
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC10883233/
Stanford has launched a new initiative to "connect the dots" in these discoveries—indicating that the implications of EBV could extend well beyond MS to a broader class of autoimmune diseases.
viewtopic.php?t=32599
Even in Alzheimer’s research, we’re starting to see shifts with questions asked whether we are overlooking crucial factors. These recent studies point to inflammation, cellular dysfunction, and possible viral triggers including EBV as central components—challenging long-standing ideas about amyloid or tau:
https://scitechdaily.com/alzheimers-puz ... -dementia/
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11091575/

I would welcome any thoughts you might have as we are watching these changes unfold.

[Leonard]

If our luck did hold, and the universe turned out once again to be simple in ways we couldn't have previously imagined, then our children, our grandchildren, and our grandchildren's children and grandchildren would not be seeing the same sky that we did, because they would not be thinking of it in the same way. They would see the same stars, and they would marvel at the hundreds of billions of galaxies other than our own. But they would sense the dark too. And to them that darkness would represent a path toward knowledge – toward the kind of discoveries that we all once called, with understandable innocence, the light.

[NHE]

"RFK Jr is doing irreparable harm..."

Senator Tammy Baldwin

[Leonard]

Hi NHE,

I respect your caution. Like you, I want science and public health to be grounded in truth—not ideology. But I would urge you to look at the bigger picture. This is no longer about Kennedy’s past. It's about whether the MAHA Commission will go beyond surface-level reform—and actually confront the biomedical root causes of chronic disease.

Yesterday, the MAHA Commission released a report allegedly exposing the root causes of the childhood chronic disease crisis:
https://www.hhs.gov/press-room/maha-com ... auses.html
https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/u ... ssment.pdf

As it stands, MAHA is focusing on clean food, water, air, and reducing toxins. That's important—but it doesn’t get to the heart of why chronic diseases are rising—even in children. It leaves the underlying biomedical paradigm untouched.

I believe that the real target should be the herpes–mitochondrial–immune axis: a systems-level understanding of how persistent viral burden, immune dysregulation, and mitochondrial collapse are interlinked. These forces aren’t marginal—they may be central to the epidemic of chronic illness.

That’s what I wrote in the above letter to Europe’s presidents. And it’s what MAHA now urgently needs to consider—before it gets locked into another layer of superficial policymaking. We stand at a crucial strategic moment.

I say this with respect: As an American and a thoughtful contributor here, you could do something constructive. Why not write to HHS or Secretary Kennedy? Or support a call for MAHA to dig deeper?

This isn’t about defending Kennedy. It’s about asking the right questions—and making sure MAHA doesn’t miss the moment.

Warmly,
Leonard