Herbal Health

One important messenger molecule is interferon, whose main job is to combat viral infections. Interferon makes cells resistant to viruses. Some of the less beneficial effects of interferon only came to light when it was used as a medicine. Hepatitis B is a debilitating viral disease that is very difficult to treat. The discovery of interferon led to its use in hepatitis B, because it can stimulate the body to mount a more effective attack against the virus. But the patients who were receiving large doses of interferon suffered from unpleasant side-effects, including severe fatigue, headaches, dizziness, abdominal discomfort, bowel disturbances, nausea and joint pain.

This list of side-effects is remarkably similar to the symptoms of a mysterious and controversial illness that goes by the name of post-viral syndrome (PVS), chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) or myalgic encephalitis (ME). In looking for the causes of this illness, most doctors have concluded that it must be psychosomatic. However, most cases seem to follow on from a viral infection of some sort, and 50 per cent of patients show a high level of antibodies to viral proteins. The parallel with interferon side-effects suggests an alternative explanation to the psychosomatic one – that the immune system has over-reacted to a viral infection and is continuing to produce excessive amounts of interferon. Alternatively, other lymphokines might be responsible for producing the symptoms – several others have similar effects.

If this is the case – and there is no definitive proof that it is – then interferon might also play a role in food intolerance. Perhaps there is some unknown immune reaction to food which stimulates the body to produce interferon, or other lymphokines, in damaging amounts. It is interesting that many PVS patients have been greatly helped by an elimination diet – it would seem that reactions to food are contributing to their symptoms. Some have also been helped by treatment for Candida overgrowth .

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Tags: Allergies

This entry was posted on Monday, April 20th, 2009 at 12:24 pm and is filed under Allergies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.