A question for everyone with MS, CFIDS/FM, lupus, RA, scleroderma, ALS, or

[emcguffie]

-- any autoimmune disease.

Is anyone here with any of those diseases being treated for Mycoplasma, or with anti-virals, or basically for strengthening the immune system?

Is anyone familiar with the argument that these could be caused by Mycoplasma infections, or by HHV-6 infections?

I have both, as do many people.

But people with RA have Mycoplasma in their joints. People with MS have HHV-6 in their brains. They can both be hard to find and can cause autoimmune disease, the type depending on which cells in your body they mimic.

Anybody?

[ProfessorGAC]

1. No. I Am Familiar With The Theory Behind That Though

But, i've yet to talk to any doctor, through my data review work with NMSS, my own neuro, the one i know through my involvement with the drug company study, or those i know on-line that strongly favor the idea. Not that they disagree per se, but they don't seem to be jumping on board, either.
The Professor

[Warpy]

2. You're talking about disseminated tuberculosis

when you're talking about retrieving mycoplasma from the synovial fluid. Yes that mimics rheumatoid arthritis. No, it's not the same thing.

About ten years ago, there was a researcher who picked up on the fact that many people with rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and Sjogren's syndrome also had false positives to the HIV antibody tests. I don't think a virus was ever isolated, but a little retrovirus not unlike HIV seems like a prime candidate.

What is certain is that true rheumatoid arthritis is a fairly new disease that doesn't appear in skeletal remains in Europe before the discovery of the New World, although evidence in skeletal remains in the New World showing the signs have been traced back 5000 years. That would seem to indicate that it's a communicable disease rather than a genetic one.