I believe Dr. Lerner's research with Valtrex, Famvir and Valcyte, as well as Dr. Montoya's Valcyte work has opened up new ideas about how to use these drugs for ME/CFS.
The Acyclovir study conducted by Strauss in the late 1980's and touted as the definite study on the effectiveness of Acyclovir as a CFS/EBV treatment is quietly being revisited on many fronts. Acyclovir and its second and third generations (Valtrex and Famvir) are getting much more interest when dose and length of treatment are substantially increased.
If CMV is the herpesvirus that appears to have a foothold in a patient, then Valcyte (as an oral treatment) appears to do a better job knocking down this virus. The idea of combining Valcyte and Famvir is an interesting combo, if you are going after EBV and HHV-6 or CMV. If you lower the EBV virus first with a less toxic drug like one in the Acyclovir family, I wonder if this will allow for less Valcyte (either dose or length of treatment) to be used to suppress CMV and/or HHV-6?
I am still unsure if depletion of B cells by Rituximab would theoretically result in suppression of all herperviruses, but recent RA and MS studies discuss EBV as being a player in the response to the drug. Anyone have any thoughts or information on whether Rituximab may have an effect on CMV or HHV-6?
