Ivan,
This was most interesting!  I am mostly a reader of this site, but really
needed to let you know how interesting this was for me to read.  I am also
wondering...and you may be able to answer this question, is Scarlet Fever a
virus?  I had it when I was about 5-6 years old.
Thanks,
Christine
53/52/48

----- Original Message -----
From: "Ivan M Suzman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, March 23, 2002 1:14 PM
Subject: VIrus Theory "Genes, Parkinson's, Viruses and Research Priorities "
from Parkinson's Inform


> Hello friends,
> For those of you who are interested,
> here is  theoriginal theory that I posted
> to  PIEN- in February, 1999
>
> Please forgive the length.
> Ivan Suzman
>
> Subject:
>  PD caused by "HDV" virus:: "Genes, Parkinson's, Viruses and Research
> Priorities "
> (follow the above link to see other posts with this subject)
>
> Date: 02/01/2000 09:22 AM
> (follow the above link to see other posts on this date)
>
> Author: [log in to unmask]
> (follow the above link to see other posts by this person)
>
> Topics: No linked articles
> (click a topic to see other posts mentioning that word)
>
>
>
> ^^^^^^  WARM GREETINGS  FROM  ^^^^^^^^^^^^  :-)
>  Ivan Suzman, PWP, 50/39/36       [log in to unmask]      :-)
>  Portland, Maine    land of lighthouses          22 deg. F   :-)
> ******************************************************************
>    Dear PIEN, and all PD researchers,        February 1, 2000
>
>
>    The text of my VIRAL origin theory, sent to PIEN on Feb. 13, 1999,
> follows.
> Here, I suggested that Parkinson's Disease is probably viral, and I named
> this hypothetical PD-causing  virus "HDV", or  Human Dopamine-Deficiency
> Virus.
>
>     PLEASE, PWP's AND RESEARCHERS, will you post comments on this theory,
> and on funding priorities? Your comments will help PWP's (persons with
> PD) worldwide, very much!
>
>     Thank you to Greg Sterling of Pennsylvania, for retrieving this
> message from the PIEN Archives.
>
>                              Sincerely yours,
>
>                              Ivan Suzman  tel 207 797-8488 USA
> *************************************************************************
> **********************************
>             Date:   13/02/99
>             Author: [log in to unmask] (Ivan M. Suzman)
>             Topics: Symptom, Parkinson's Disease, Dopamine, Dopaminergic,
> Substantia
>
>
>                          NIgra, Striatum, Encephalitis, Amantadine,
> Tremor, PWP
>
> """"""""""""""""""""""""Original Message
> Begins""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""""
>
>       GENES, PARKINSON'S , VIRUSES and RESEARCH PRIORITIES
>
>                                by Ivan M. Suzman, PWP
>
>      I am now 49. For at least 13 years, I  have lived with visible
> symptoms of "young-onset" Parkinson's Disease (PD).  The internal systems
> of my body are now ruled by this unwanted condition.  My  response to
> light, my tolerance of sound, my ability to maintain balance, my response
> to cold or to heat, and my sexual function are among many autonomic
> responses that are being devastated.
>
>       I offer here, especially to interested persons such as Mr. Safra
> and other financiers, whose financial positions and generosity may lead
> to the eradication of this horrible malady, some thoughts on what
> Parkinson's is, and how I would direct research monies to be invested.  I
> hope that these thoughts will stimulate decisive commitments to a
> diversity of inspired researchers. I invite discussion.
>
>                                 ------------**********---------------
>
>        Parkinson's Disease is one of many names for a group of
> potentially fatal conditions which are all human dopamine deficiency
> disorders (DDD's).  Wide speculation about the cause or causes for the
> onset of DDD's continues. Frequently mentioned are toxic exposure,
> radiation, endosomatic trauma, viral infection or exposure, inherited
> genetic change and  aging.
>
>        I see any DDD as an unfortunate proof that genetic change causes
> biochemical malfunction. Any possible cause of a DDD depends on the
> susceptibility of normal genetic material to alteration.  Gene sequences
> which would normally code for the production, recognition, transport and
> uptake of dopamine,such as sequences involved in controlling the 5-step
> pathway from tyrosine to adrenaline, including DOPA, dopamine and
> noradrenalin as the intermediate steps, and gene sequences involved in
> the distribution of dopamine from the dopaminergic cells in the
> substantia nigra to the anterior part of the ventral striatum to motivate
> eating behaviors, and to the posterior part of the ventral striatum to
> motivate movement, are where I would focus basic research.
>
>        This research might be achieved at the NSF or at the NIH or in
> private laboratories.
>
>         Although I am no longer a professional scientist involved in
> direct research, I was. I have been an NSF peer grant reviewer in
> Physical Anthropology.  I feel that the advances in cellular research
> which are directed to locating the genetic controls on dopamine
> production and distribution are the key areas of research that ought to
> be funded.   I believe that funding, whether in the private sector, or
> through the promise of the $100,000,000.00 Udall Act in the USA, and
> similar measures that may become law elsewhere on the planet, should be
> concentrated on such gene systems.
>
>        In recent weeks, Dr. Richard Palmiter of the University of
> Washington, working with Cell Genesys in California, has reported
> extraordinary and promising results in mice which were initially
> genetically engineered to have a DDD essentially equal to human
> Parkinson's Disease.  I talked with him on Wednesday. Some 20 out of 23
> of these mice in his laboratory have been returned to virtually normal,
> after the introduction via injection of a virus produced at Cell Genesys,
> Inc. of California.
>
>        From talking over the telephone to Gerry Haines of Bethlehem,
> Pennsylvania, whose husband, Brig has PD, I discovered that the
> American-based Parkinson's Alliance is discussing the prioritizing of
> research money that it may be able to generate.  I am very encouraged by
> her hopefulness, and she asked me to write the following brief summary of
>  my thinking at this time.
>
>        I believe that it is quite possible that a VIRAL origin of human
> Parkinson's is likely for at least a significant proportion of DDD's
> worldwide.
>
>      Consider a few interesting facts:
>
>     (1)  The well-known post-swine flu encephalitis of the early part of
> this century caused innumerable cases of "Parkinson's Disease" to
> develop.  These were memorialized by Dr. Oliver Sachs, in his book,
> Awakenings. The movie, "Awakenings," forever and indelibly imprinted in
> our memories by screen stars Robert  De Niro and Robin Williams, recalls
> the early use of L-dopa to cause movement and communication in "frozen"
> hospital patients.  The key point is that these people had been exposed
> to a devastating virus.
>
>      (2)  It is very well known that amantadine, actually an ANTI-VIRAL
> drug, reduces tremor in PWP's (people with Parkinson's). Antibiotic drugs
> have also been reported to quell the symptoms of PWP's.
>
>      (3) Horses in, I believe, Germany, develop an equine variety of DDD
> after exposure to the Bern virus. I believe this report was released in
> 1998.
>
>      (4) Taiwanese women with Parkinson's are mentioned to be,
> interestingly, post- herpes viral victims.
>
>     (5)  I also believe that recently there has been work to show that
> Multiple Sclerosis can be attributed to the Herpes virus number 6.
>
>     (6)  I read in the New York Times about four years ago of a young
> boy whose Duchenne's Muscular Dystrophy was being treated with
> genetically-engineered dystrophin, a man-made protein predicted to
> restore normal movement to that patient.
>
>       These 4 pieces of important evidence ( 1 - 4 above), and 2
> observations about related neuromotor disorders ( 5 and 6 above) can all
> be used  as CLUES in support of the idea of a VIRAL origin for human
> Parkinson's Disease.  Identification of this PD virus, much like the
> current battle against the Ebola Virus, and also in light of the last 15
> years of worldwide, coordinated research to contain the Human
> Immunodeficiency Virus, should take top priority in virology and public
> health.
>
>       To emphasize the urgency, I would simply say that my own ability
> to live any tiny remnant of a disease-free life is very unlikely to
> extend beyond 50 or so, unless something DRAMATIC happens soon in
> research laboratories!!
>
>       In epidemiology, we recently have seen the intriguing paper by Dr.
> Tanner  of California.  She claims that 90% of the PD cases are due to a
> toxic event.  I am not so sure that her paper presents any unassailable
> evidence of toxic exposure. A viral origin for DDD's might also
> meanwhile explain her PD evidence on twins.  Twins, whether identical,
> fraternal or sororital, if sharing the same bedroom, could come into
> contact with a PD-causing virus with greater frequency than siblings of
> different ages.
>
>      Let us for the moment assume that ALL DDD cases are due to either
> viral exposure or to other causes capable of breaking up and rearranging
> the normal amino acid sequence of either DNA, or the messenger RNA
> templates that ultimately produce DNA.
>
>      This assumption would give us a conceptual framework to understand
> virtually all case of "Parkinson's Disease," no matter what the cause.
> This framework strongly points towards viruses.
>
>       Now, a few thoughts on the "cure" for Parkinson's Disease.  Dr.
> Palmiter's mice are injected with a man-made virus created at Cell
> Genesys, a virus that takes over the animals' mRNA templates for the DNA
> that codes for the enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase.  This injection causes
> the correct DNA sequence to be relaid, so that dopamine is produced, and
> amazingly, the genetically-sick mice LOSE ALL SIGNS of Parkinson's
> Disease, except some slowness of movement in some of the mice.
>
>    The sick mice not only move again. Their DDD does a disappearing act
> !! The sick mice seem to recover from the weight loss that threatens
> them Their will to eat returns, along with their normal gait and
> posture.. How strikingly reminiscent of the problems we PWP's have with
> protein absorption and body weight loss that frequently assert themselves
> in the middle and later stages of our various DDD's.I am going through
> this ordeal now, and it is VERY difficult to control!!
>
>       All it took was the correcting of a jumbled gene sequence to end
> the DDD in the mice.
>
>        I am ready to volunteer myself to Genesys, or to any laboratory
> that can learn how to examine with repeated and consistent results, the
> DNA sequence in human white blood cells, and of course in particular, the
> DNA of  PWP's.  As long as published, repeatable methods are used, I
> would  REALLY like to imagine that it won't be that long before a viral
> means of transporting the instructions to manufacture a corrected DNA
> sequence, perhaps in the form of an injection, will be the magic
> instrument that we PWP's in this Parkinson's-unfriendly world  need.
>
>    By taking such hopeful steps, we can enter what Judith Richards calls
> a new "era."  And step forward we must , so that we not only talk about,
> but are participants in, a planetary effort  to END Parkinson's DIsease.
> Only then, will the coming of the millennium seem truly meaningful to me.
>
>   Intensive and competitive research in virology, epidemiology and
> public health, along with basic research in neurological biochemistry and
> in human genetics, could be the basis of a coordinated program to
> eradicate Parkinson's DIsease from the planet.
>
>     BIg words, big ideas, and above all, HOPE, must be the at the center
> of a global plan of attack. Personally, I am saying, why not dream for
> the stars?   Mr. Ali's steadfastness, and Mr. Fox's hopefulness are both
> inspiring the world as the race for the cure begins. I only hope that Mr.
> Fox's cure comes before he is 40, NOT 50, as he usually says.
>
>      And, I see an all-out, worldwide ATTACK on what I will call the
> Human Dopamine-Neutralizing VIrus, or " HDV " as the direction that can
> usher us all into an era of radical action, and unending  hope.
>
>      After all, I am a PWP myself, and have my life to lose to this
> devastating disease if a cure is not found.  At age 49, I am at least 13
> years of noticeable symptoms into a DDD called "Young Onset Parkinson's
> Disease," I see only the PUSH for the genetic explanation of PD in human
> beings as the pathway to unravelling the PD mystery, and to preventative,
> genetic treatment for HDV-positive persons.
>
>    With our eyes  looking  forward,
>
>     (Prof.) Ivan M. Suzman, young-onset PWP
>     Portland, Maine, USA
>     tel 207 797-8488
>     e-mail :    [log in to unmask]
>    _____________________Original Message
> Ends_______________________________
>
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