SUCCESSFUL TREATMENT - ME

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UK versus South African Test

UK tests are not comparable with the South African tests. UK laboratories do

have a Rickettsia test but it is not the same test. Below is the main arguments

on the UK versus South African Tests;

1. The nature of a Chronic Rickettsia Infection (CRI) is that it suppresses

the immune response (we know that often people with ME have a poor immune

response) and hence even when infected they do not generate the antibodies very

well. Hence you need a very sensitive test to detect the few antibodies

produced in Chronic Rickettsial patients. The UK tests are looking for a

significant number of antibodies in order to infer a Rickettsial infection.

However this may be true for an Acute Reckettsial infection but CRIs are very

often characterised by their poor immune response. Hence the reported

unreliability of the titration tests (these are the UK tests) and the risk of

false negatives i.e. a person being incorrectly told that they do not have a

Rickettsial infection when in fact they do. I refer you to the third paragraph

of the introduction of the attached document. Here an alternative test was used

on Dr Jadin's friend which kept being returned as negative. This test is likely

to have been a titration test which is different to Prof Jadin's

microagglutination test that came back positive. It is like comparing a

tractor with a racing car. They are both vehicles but do quite different

things. The microagglutination test is not available in this country, only in

South Africa.

2. The Prof Jadin test is a highly sensitive microagglutination test which

agglutinates if any antibodies are present whilst the titration tests are not

sensitive at the lower end. As Dr Jadin points out there is interpretation

involved in the titration tests whereas with the microagglutination tests it

either agglutinates or it does not and there is no interpretation involved, the

answer is either yes or no contact with Rickettsia. A negative result on the

microagglutination test conclusively eliminates Rickettsia from a medical

enquiry. A positive result on this test however does not automatically mean

that you have an active CRI. It simply means that you have had exposure to

Rickettsia. The diagnosis of active CRI is a clinical one that requires medical

expertise and involves a positive microagglutination test, a full medical

history and clinical examination of the patient. Without getting too

complicated this ties in with the earlier comments on active and dormant

Rickettsia mentioned in the previous article. This is why we are trying to run a

trial in Hull to get this medical expertise into the country.

3. As somebody progresses through treatment the antibiotherapy enables the

immune system to respond to the infection. Hence as treatment progresses an

individual's antibody level will naturally increase. At some point during

antibiotherapy the UK tests will be able to detect the increased levels of

antibodies, the point at which this occurs will differ from person to person

depending on how weak their immune response was to start with.

4. UK labs would need to carry out a trial with a group of untreated ME

sufferers sending samples to both UK and South African labs in order to assess

the extent of any correlation. However Prof Jadin's work indicates that this

would not be found.

Finally beware of treatment. Medical wisdom in this country says that

Rickettsia is an acute illness that you treat with antibiotics for 2 weeks.

This does not take into account the life cycle of the Rickettsia bugs and their

chronic infestation revealed by the research of Prof Jadin. Two weeks may wipe

out some of the population that is active at the time but will not be sufficient

to treat a CRI.

You may ask why after all these years why the link has not been established

between Rickettsia and Chronic Fatigue in the UK. A diligent doctor exploring

all the possible causes would have been hit by the double whammy;

a. The unreliable UK titration tests

b. The incorrect understanding of how the Rickettsia bugs operate within

the human body in itself leading to inappropriate treatment.

Disclaimer

This paper is written to provide information to the ME/CFS community and

summarises information from Dr Jadin's work. It is purely understanding of the

author who is not medically trained and no treatment should be carried out

without proper medical consultation.

This article can be posted/reprinted.

Alistair Lowe

17th August 03

Rev3 email:

alowe@...