The Flu Virus and Bacterial Infection

Over time the flu virus suppresses the body’s ability to defend itself against bacteria.

When infected with influenza the flu virus alters the host’s immune system and compromises its capacity to effectively fight off bacterial infections. A team of immunologists at the Helmholtz Centre for Infection Research (HZI) and cooperation partners has discovered that an immune system molecule known as TLR7 is partly to blame. The molecule recognizes the viral genome – and then signals scavenger cells of the immune system to ingest fewer bacteria. The researchers published their findings in the Journal of Innate Immunity.

In the past, there have been flu pandemics that have claimed the lives of many and during the course of the condition; many people not only become ill from the flu itself but also from bacterial pathogens such as; pneumococci, the bacteria causing pneumonia. Why an infection with the flu virus increases the risk for super-infections is poorly understood.
http://www.proventus.org.uk/The%20Flu%20Virus.pdf

Gluten Ataxia

Neurological symptoms appear to be common in some people with coeliac disease and there is some evidence that some people (not necessarily coeliacs) may suffer from a neurological condition known as gluten ataxia, a condition which has the potential to cause progressive, permanent disability.

A study has shown brain abnormalities in people with coeliac disease who have certain neurological symptoms and these abnormalities are similar to the abnormalities found in people with gluten ataxia.

The study, from Sheffield Teaching Hospitals neurologist Dr. Marios Hadjivassiliou looked at the extent of brain abnormality in 33 patients with coeliac disease. Their symptoms included balance disturbances, headache and sensory loss, according to the study. Physicians used advanced MRI imaging to look at their brains, and compared them to a group of controls.

The size of the brain region called the cerebellum, the part of the brain that deals with motor control, and possibly has some functions in language and attention action, appeared significantly less in the patient group than in the control group. 

Also, 36% of the coeliac disease group had "white matter abnormalities," which are most frequently seen in people who have MS.

The group of people who reported headaches had the most of these abnormalities, almost twice the number than those with balance disturbance, and six times more than those with sensory loss, the study said.

The researchers concluded that "patients with established coeliac disease referred for neurological opinion show significant brain abnormality on MR imaging."
 
The study was published in the Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery & Psychiatry.

Sanofi has obtained FDA approval  for its oral drug Aubagio® (teriflunomide). It is a prescription medicine used to treat relapsing forms of multiple sclerosis. Aubagio does not cure MS.

 

A representative for Sanofi

subsidiary Genzyme said “the treatment will be priced at $45,000 a year, angling in to grab market share.

"The price of Copaxone is 7% more," the price of Avonex is 8% more and the price of Gilenya is 28% more than the price of Aubagio." The new treatment was filed for approval by Sanofi's biologics arm, Genzyme.

 

"In a clinical trial, the relapse rate for people who have multiple sclerosis using Aubagio was about 30 percent lower than the rate for those taking a placebo," said Dr. Russell Katz, director of the Division of Neurology Products in the FDA's Centre for Drug Evaluation and Research. "Multiple sclerosis can impair movement, sensation, and thinking, so it is important to have a variety of treatment options available to patients."

In the Phase III "TOWER" study, people who have MS on a daily 14 mg dose of teriflunomide had a 36.3% drop in annualised relapse rate--which was the main goal of the study--compared with those taking a placebo. There was also a 31.5% drop in the risk of disability among patients on that dose of Genzyme's drug compared with placebo patients, the company reported that no new side effects cropped up in this trial that hadn't been seen before in previous studies?

The safety of oral MS drugs will need to be proven over time.

The drug contains a Boxed Warning to alert prescribers and patients to the risk of liver problems, including death, and a risk of birth defects. Health professionals should do blood tests to check liver function before a patient starts taking Aubagio and periodically during treatment.

Also included in the Boxed Warning is an alert noting that, based on animal studies, the drug may cause foetal harm. For this reason, Aubagio is labelled as Pregnancy Category X, which means women of childbearing age must have a negative pregnancy test before starting the drug and use effective birth control during treatment.

Motor Neurone Disease - The name given to a group of related conditions of which there is selective and progressive loss of function of the motor neurons. There are a number of types of the condition with differing clinical presentations and prognoses, however the symptoms that are experienced amongst the differing types are similar..
 
Originally it was considered that there might be one cause that explained all cases of MND. However it is now known that can’t be the case, and research is being undertaken to identify the multiple causes of the condition. A number of strategies and approaches are being tested around the world, both in the laboratory and in human clinical trials. As of 2012, intense research is being conducted on genetic factors, the role of the immune system and the role of cells other than nerve cells in this disease. In addition, therapies, such as “Aimspro” and other treatments are being tested for potential benefits in ALS.

Joost van der Westhuizen was diagnosed with motor neurone disease by neurologists in South Africa and this was confirmed at the Cleveland Clinic in the US in 2011. Importantly, Joost has the most severe form of the neurodegenerative disease which led to an accelerated deterioration in his health.

Joost travelled to Harley Street in London in late April 2012 to see if the aimspro treatment could help him. After receiving a once daily treatment of Aimspro (administered by a subcutaneous injection), Joost's condition has been stabilised with a degree of improvement being observed in the last two months since starting treatment.

Muscle fasciculation, speech and fatigue have all improved. Daily activities which we take for granted such as holding a cup or sandwich with one hand, putting on a jacket, or buttoning up a shirt are no longer an issue with Joost since initiating the treatment. More work clearly needs to be done but this treatment which has recently completed two phase II clinical trials in the UK may provide hope for patients with motor neurone disease in the future.

 Quote from Joost. "When one gets diagnosed with a fatal illness, it’s sometimes difficult to stay positive and motivated. Since I’ve been taking Aimspro it has allowed me to see a positive improvement in my physical condition. This medicine together with intense rehab brought about changes in my movement ability, it enabled me to look further than just short term and to have a long term perspective on life; and may I add not just life, but quality of life"  http://www.proventus.org.uk/page332.html#Joost  

Mycoplasmas

Mycoplasmas - A specific and unique species of bacteria. The primary differences between mycoplasmas and other bacteria is that bacteria have a solid cell-wall structure and can grow in the simplest culture media. Mycoplasmas however, do not have a cell wall, and can take on many different shapes which make them difficult to identify.
Mycoplasmas can also be very hard to culture and can be missed as pathogenic causes of diseases for this reason.

Unlike viruses, mycoplasmas can grow in tissue fluids and can grow inside living tissue cell without killing the cells.

Mycoplasmas can be found in the oral and genito-urinary tracts of healthy people and are found to infect females four times more often than males, approximately the same incidence rate in rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, Chronic Fatigue and other related disorders.

Mycoplasmas are parasitic in nature and can attach to specific cells without killing the cells, therefore their infection process and progress may go undetected.

In some people the attachment of mycoplasmas to the host cell acts like a persistent foreign substance, causing the immune defence system to react. The allergic type of inflammation can result in heated, swollen, and painful inflamed tissues, like those found autoimmune disorders. In such cases the immune system begins attacking itself.

Some species of mycoplasmas have the ability to completely evade the immune system. Once they attach to a host cell in the body, their plasma and protein coating can mimic the cell wall of the host cell and the immune system cannot differentiate the mycoplasma from the body's own host cell.

Mycoplasmas are parasitic in nature and rely on the nutrients found in host cells. Once attached to a host cell, they compete for nutrients inside the host cell. As nutrients are depleted, the host cells can begin to malfunction, or even change normal functioning of the cell, causing a chain reaction with other cells.

Mycoplasmas can also invade and live inside host cells which evade the immune system, especially white blood cells. Once inside a white blood cell, mycoplasmas can travel throughout the body and even cross the blood/brain barrier, and into the central nervous system and spinal fluid.

Mycoplasmas are highly adaptable to changing environments and can move anywhere in the body, attaching to or invading virtually any type of cell in the body.

Certain Mycoplasma species can either activate or suppress host immune systems.

Mycoplasma can attach to or invade immune system cells and can be carried to new locations of inflammation or disease

When a mycoplasma attaches to a host cell, it generates and releases hydrogen peroxide and superoxide radicals which cause oxidative stress and damage to the surrounding tissues.

Nice work if you can get it

Health is of a major interest to many, and represents a considerable cost to society. The large national health charities have an overwhelming monopoly influence at government level and throughout the media.  Given that the major part of voluntary charity work across the UK is undertaken entirely by volunteers and small charity groups how are the voices of smaller health charities to be heard or their contributions be evaluated?
 
It doesn’t happen.  It is no surprise that people are ignored.
 
The monopoly enjoyed by the large health charities has become very problematic for the smaller charity groups, making it very difficult for them to raise their profile and concerns in the face of the financial muscle and political position of the large charities. This situation means that the small, yet important, health charities do not have an opportunity to be noticed or heard.
 
The large health charities not only receive donations and gifts from the public and elsewhere they also receive money from the pharmaceutical industry and commercial interests, this can have a tendency to create bias especially where the sums involved are considerable.
 
A health charity in a monopoly position is able to influence government policy as well as garner media attention without being held to task or to be forensically examined. Can this be right?
 
The level of dislike and suspicion at being approached in the street by people attempting to cajole them into donating to a charitable cause (chuggers), has risen sharply.

Main line health charities are increasing being seen as corporate entities, influenced by the pharmaceutical industry and other commercial interests.
 
The CEO’s of large charity movement receive three figure salaries plus expenses. It may be seen that for some charities there is more money spent on salaries and expenses out of the money they receive in donations than on the work they do?
 
Nice work if you can get it – So many people run, jump, shake tins all in a good cause, and they are to be admired for their efforts but should we not be told exactly what the money is used for? How it is distributed? Who is paid what? What expenses are paid out, how and why? 

Inflammation

Inflammation is the complex biological response of vascular tissues to harmful stimuli. It is the body’s natural reaction to protect itself from infection and foreign substances.

 
When inflammation occurs normally, chemicals from white blood cells are released to protect you against infection and foreign substances. Without this process, wounds would never heal and infections would go unchecked.
 
The body’s immune system reacts against stimuli In an attempt to remove the injurious stimuli and to initiate the healing process. Stimuli such as: Pathogens. Damaged cells. Irritants.
 
Sometimes,  the white blood cells and their inflammatory chemicals can cause damage to the body’s tissues and progressive destruction of the tissue will compromise the survival of the organism.In some diseases (known as autoimmune disease) the body’s immune system inappropriately triggers an inflammatory response when there are no foreign substances to fight off. In these conditions the body responds as if normal healthy tissues are infected or somehow considered to be abnormal.  
 

Inflammation is classified as:

Acute - the initial response of the body to harmful stimuli, achieved by the increased movement of plasma and leukocytes from the blood into the injured tissues. A cascade of biochemical events propagates and matures the inflammatory response, involving the local vascular system, the immune system, and various cells within the injured tissue. Chronic - prolonged inflammation, leads to a progressive shift in the type of cells present at the site of inflammation and is characterised by simultaneous destruction and healing of the tissue from the inflammatory process. Chronic inflammation will continue to stimulate pro-inflammatory immune cells when they may not be needed. As excess immune cells circulate in the body, they can damage healthy areas of the body.

 
The inflammatory response directs immune system components to the site of injury/damage or infection by increased blood supply and vascular permeability which allows the immune system components to leave the intravascular (within blood vessels or blood vessel) compartment at the point where they are needed. Uncovering whether or not you are suffering from unseen inflammation in your body is quite important because it is an underlying factor associated with many conditions.
 
A chronic disease processes can be affected or caused by inflammation.
 
If the immune system’s ability to quell inflammation is impaired a person may be heading toward a chronic condition and premature aging. Addressing the cause of inflammation and learning how to live an anti-inflammatory lifestyle can assist in supporting a person’s health. There are normal and appropriate inflammatory responses of the immune system to infection and trauma. This kind of inflammation is necessary. It is needed for the body to survive and it works to determine friend from foe.
 
An immediate inflammatory reaction generated by the body’s immune system is known as an “acute inflammatory reaction” When the immune system becomes uncontrolled, for whatever reason, it may also begin to attack the body’s healthy tissues resulting in autoimmune conditions. Also chronic underlying inflammation can slowly damage organs and tissues reducing a person’s ability to function optimally.
 
It is postulated that chronic inflammation will also lead to premature aging. Anti-inflammatory drugs are often useful for acute problems; however they do interfere with the body's own immune response and cause serious side effects especially with long term use.
 
Some causes of inflammation that impact on health:

Poor diet. Lack of exercise. Stress. Infections. Allergens. Toxins. Mould.Underlying health conditions.

 
Inflammatory abnormalities are a large group of conditions which underlie a variety of diseases and the immune system is involved in many inflammatory conditions.
 
A large variety of proteins are involved in inflammation, and any one of them is open to a genetic mutation which impairs or otherwise deregulates the normal function and expression of that protein.


The outcome in a particular condition will be determined by the tissue in which the injury has occurred and the injurious agent that is causing it. In some diseases, the inflammatory process can be triggered even when there are no foreign invaders. In autoimmune diseases, the body's normally protective immune system damages its own tissues, as it erroneously recognises self as foreign, and normal as abnormal.

Read More – Inflammation pdf