Attempts to reproduce ALS in laboratory animals by inoculation of Schu virus

Flaviviruses can cause ALS- TBE- Schu- Powassan>? The "deer tick virus"
is a flavivirus.
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1: Zh Nevropatol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 1970;70(8):1124-9. Related
Articles, Links

[The relationship between amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and tick-born
encephalitis]

[Article in Russian]

Protas II, Votiakov VI.

MeSH Terms:
Adult
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/diagnosis
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/etiology*
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/pathology
Central Nervous System/pathology
Central Nervous System Diseases/diagnosis*
Diagnosis, Differential
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne/complications*
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne/diagnosis
Female
Humans
Infection
Insect Vectors
Male
Ticks

PMID: 5504880 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

Attempts to reproduce amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in laboratory
animals by inoculation of Schu virus isolated from a patient with
apparent amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
W. K. Müller1, 2 and G. Schaltenbrand1, 2

(1) Laboratorium voor medische Microbiologie der Rijksuniversiteit,
Leiden, The Netherlands
(2) Neurologische Universitätsklinik Würzburg, Federal Republic of
Germany
(3) Psychiatrisches Landeskrankenhaus, D-6908 Wiesloch, Federal
Republic of Germany

Received: 27 January 1978

Summary A virus isolated from the CSF of a patient who had amyotrophic
lateral sclerosis for 7 years, and prolonged pleocytosis in the CSF,
was adapted to suckling mouse brain by subsequent serial blind
passages. This Schu virus belongs to the tick-borne encephalitis
complex of the genus Flavivirus (Togaviridae). Suckling mouse brain
homogenate of the 13th passage was used for transmission experiments in
various species of laboratory animals. Golden hamsters infected
subcutaneously fell ill after a number of months, lost weight, and had
paresis of the legs. Histologically they had petechial hemorrhages in
different parts of the CNS and inflammatory changes in the gray
substance of the spinal cord.
Pilot studies with repeated inoculations of small doses of different
flavivirus strains suggest a course of the disease in experimental
animals which resembles slow-virus infections insofar as no
encephalitis is produced and degenerative changes of the anterior horn
cells prevail over inflammatory signs in the spinal cord.
After intracerebral application of Schu virus, cynomolgus monkeys
developed the typical lesions of togavirus panencephalitis with
epileptic seizures, ataxia, and paresis. After subcutaneous
application, the virus seems to spread along peripheral nerves to
anterior spinal roots and spinal cord, where mainly motor neurons of
the anterior horn are damaged, and from there to the brain.
The histological findings are such that one may assume the disease of
the patient was due to the infection with the virus isolated from his
CSF. Therefore, the hypothesis may be advanced that at least some of
the cases diagnosed as amyotrophic lateral sclerosis are due to a
togavirus infection.
Key words Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis - Togavirus - Flavivirus -
Schu virus - Experimental reproduction of ALS
1: Zh Nevrol Psikhiatr Im S S Korsakova. 2001;101(4):10-5. Related
Articles, Links

[Clinical pathogenic peculiarities of chronic Russian tick-born
encephalitis]

[Article in Russian]

Nadezhdina MV.

Clinical, serologic, epidemiological and neurological studies were
carried out in 23 patients (18 men, 5 women) aged 15-69 years who had
chronic Russian tick-borne encephalitis (RTE). With permanent stable
humoral immunity the fact that these forms might develop was confirmed
in 73.9% of the cases. In 26.1% of the patients were found to have
incomplete vaccination and vaccine therapy combined with RTE viral
infection. The following conditions underlay chronization were observed
in all forms of acute RTE: fever in 4.3%, meningitis in 30.4%, focal
lesion in 43.5% (the encephalitic syndrome in 8.7%, poliomyelitis in
8.7%, encephalopoliomyelitis in 26.1%). Initially progressive course
was found in 21.7% of the cases. There was a primary rise of the
hyperkinetic syndrome after the meningeal and focal forms of RTE with
the encephalitic syndrome; while development of the amyotrophic
syndrome (ATS) was found after the focal form with the poliomyelitic
and encephalopoliomyelitic syndrome. The amyotrophic lateral sclerosis
(ALS) syndrome occurs as both primary progressive RTE and ATS
transformation independently of the initial RTE form. Latent periods of
development of ATS and ALS syndrome were virtually equal (mean 1.4
years) and did not depend on the initial form of acute RTE. The
duration of development of latent chronic forms makes it necessary to
follow up RTE patients for at least 3 years.

MeSH Terms:
Adolescent
Adult
Chronic Disease
Disease Progression
Encephalitis Viruses, Tick-Borne/pathogenicity*
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne/immunology*
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne/therapy
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne/virology*
English Abstract
Female
Follow-Up Studies
Humans
Male
Meningitis, Viral/immunology
Meningitis, Viral/therapy
Meningitis, Viral/virology
Middle Aged
Russia
Time Factors

PMID: 11490426 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

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--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

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This paper was presented at the Symposium on Chronic Virus Diseases in
Smolenice, October 1977 and at the meeting of the German
Neuropathological Society in Tübingen, October 1977
Serologic investigations into the etiology of amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis
A. M. Gardash'yan, T. I. Biryulina, E. A. Lysak, T. L. Bunina and V. S.
Tsvetkov

Received: 30 October 1969

Microbiology and Immunology
Serologic investigations into the etiology of amyotrophic lateral
sclerosis
A. M. Gardash'yan, T. I. Biryulina, E. A. Lysak, T. L. Bunina and V. S.
Tsvetkov

Received: 30 October 1969

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without Abstract
Laboratory of Virology and Division of Virology and Immunology of
Tumors, N. F. Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology,
Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by
Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR O. V.
Baroyan.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i
Meditsiny, Vol. 69, No. 4, pp. 88-90, April, 1970.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The references of this article are secured to subscribers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Without Abstract
Laboratory of Virology and Division of Virology and Immunology of
Tumors, N. F. Gamaleya Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology,
Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR, Moscow. (Presented by
Academician of the Academy of Medical Sciences of the USSR O. V.
Baroyan.) Translated from Byulleten' Éksperimental'noi Biologii i
Meditsiny, Vol. 69, No. 4, pp. 88-90, April, 1970.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The references of this article are secured to subscribers.

1: UCLA Forum Med Sci. 1976;(19):173-80. Related Articles, Links

Virological studies of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis: an overview.

Johnson RT.

Publication Types:
Review

MeSH Terms:
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/epidemiology
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/etiology*
Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis/immunology
Antibodies, Viral/analysis
Encephalitis, Tick-Borne/complications
Humans
Poliomyelitis/complications
Polioviruses
Slow Virus Diseases*/complications

Substances:
Antibodies, Viral

PMID: 191964 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Very interesting. Maybe that is why some ALS patients do not respond
to antibiotic treatment that is predicated on a lyme misdiagnosis.
This is pretty old research, yet there don't seem to be any docs in
this country using anti-virals as a trial on ALS patients. If I was
diagnosed with ALS, I would want them to try abx, then anti-virals, or
anything else that might work. Bet there are multiple causes for ALS
symptoms.

Med Vet Entomol. 2004 Sep;18(3):268-74. Related Articles, Links
Click here to read
Susceptibility of mosquito and tick cell lines to infection with
various flaviviruses.

Lawrie CH, Uzcategui NY, Armesto M, Bell-Sakyi L, Gould EA.

Nuffield Department of Clinical Laboratory Sciences, University of
Oxford, UK. charles...@ndcls.ox.ac.uk

The genus Flavivirus consists of more than 70 virus species and
subtypes, the majority of which are transmitted by mosquitoes or ticks,
although some have no known vector (NKV). The ability of these viruses
to infect cultured cells derived from mosquito or tick species offers a
useful insight into the suitability of such vectors to harbour and
replicate particular viruses. We undertook a comparative study of the
susceptibility of mammalian Vero cells, a clonal mosquito cell line
(C6/36) and recently developed cell lines derived from the ticks
(Acari: Ixodidae) Ixodes ricinus (L.) (IRE/CTVM18), I. scapularis (Say)
(ISE6), Rhipicephalus appendiculatus (Neumann) (RAE/CTVM1) and
Amblyomma variegatum (Fabricius) (AVL/CTVM17) to infection with 13
flaviviruses (and one alphavirus) using immunofluorescence microscopy
and plaque assay techniques. The C6/36 mosquito cell line was infected
by all the mosquito-borne flaviviruses tested but not by NKV viruses or
tick-borne viruses, with the exception of Langat virus (LGTV). The tick
cell lines were susceptible to infection by all of the tick-borne
viruses tested, as well as two mosquito-borne viruses, West Nile virus
(WNV) and the alphavirus, Venezuelan equine encephalitis virus (VEEV),
but not other mosquito-borne viruses or NKV viruses.

PMID: 15347394 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

J Gen Virol. 2001 Jul;82(Pt 7):1657-65.

Phylogeny of North American Powassan virus.

Ebel GD, Spielman A, Telford SR 3rd.

Laboratory of Public Health Entomology, Department of Immunology
and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, 665
Huntington Ave, Boston, MA 02115, USA.

To determine whether Powassan virus (POW) and deer tick virus (DTV)
constitute distinct flaviviral populations transmitted by ixodid ticks
in North America, we analysed diverse nucleotide sequences from 16
strains of these viruses. Two distinct genetic lineages are evident,
which may be defined by geographical and host associations. The
nucleotide and amino acid sequences of lineage one (comprising New York
and Canadian POW isolates) are highly conserved across time and space,
but those of lineage two (comprising isolates from deer ticks and a
fox) are more variable. The divergence between lineages is much greater
than the variation within either lineage, and lineage two appears to be
more diverse genetically than is lineage one. Application of
McDonald-Kreitman tests to the sequences of these strains indicates
that adaptive evolution of the envelope protein separates lineage one
from lineage two. The two POW lineages circulating in North America
possess a pattern of genetic diversity suggesting that they comprise
distinct subtypes that may perpetuate in separate enzootic cycles.

PMID: 11413377 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

A Focus of Deer Tick Virus Transmission in the Northcentral United
States

Gregory D. Ebel, Ivo Foppa, Andrew Spielman, and Sam R. Telford, III
Harvard School of Public Health, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
We screened salivary glands from adult deer ticks collected near
Spooner and Hayward, Wisconsin, to determine whether deer tick virus, a
recently described flavivirus, occurs with other tickborne agents in
the upper Midwest. Intraacinar inclusions sug- gestive of replicating
virus were detected in 4 (4.6%) of 87 ticks. The virus was isolated by
suckling-mouse inoculation.

Pathogens transmitted by deer ticks (Ixodes dammini) affect the health
of residents in areas of the northcentral United States. The diversity
of infecting agents, the intensity of their transmission, and the
concomitant risk for human infection are well documented and approach
levels found in the Northeast (1-4). In northwestern Wisconsin, the
risk to health from these ticks may increase as human recreational and
industrial activities more frequently intersect with areas of enzootic
transmission. In addition to the agents of Lyme disease (Borrelia
burgdorferi), human granulocytic ehrlichiosis (Ehrlichia microti), and
human babesiosis (Babesia microti), deer ticks in these foci might be
infected with deer-tick virus (DTV), a recently described Powassan
(POW)-like agent of the genus Flavivirus (5), and might pose an
additional threat to human health in this region.

Get full text at :http://www.cdc.gov/ncidod/EID/vol5no4/ebel.htm

Yes, I find it fascinating as I had many ALS-like symptoms and it
terrified me. Did you see the abstracts on antibiotics activating the
TBE virus>? ANd how the Russians have studied which antibiotics don't
activate it>? And on the herbs that DO INactivate the TBE virus>? If I
were ever, am ever, officially diagnosed ALS I would be downing those
herbs like crazy!!!

The Russians see Lyme/TBE as common coinfections!!!

CDC and NIH say there is no treatment for TBE, so even if ALS in U.S.
sometimes caused by this virus, apparently anti-virals don't work.
Wonder why not.

But those herbs DO inactivate the TBE virus-!!! Bilberry- Ledum-!

Yes, I read the abstract about which abx activated the virus. Said
gentamicin was about the only one that didn't, but I have never heard
of this being used in lyme disease. Drug info said only done IM or IV.
Found an abstract that said it was used in hospitalized patients for
tularemia (or alternatively streptomycin).

So maybe herbs the best bet. Good on those Russians.

Noticed that the Halperin et al article was almost 15 years ago. Stony
Brook has had some good moments in the past. Wonder if they have ever
tried to treat ALS as a lyme case?

What I meant to say about the Halperin article is that it was
pre-Steere 1993 pronouncement of overdiagnosis/overtreatment and the
subsequent about-face by people like those at Stony Brook. So, my
question was whether they are now treating any ALS cases as possible
Lyme, or have they just abandoned those patients too?