Re: Need Info Re: Viral Stuff

[Guest guest]

Hi -

I'll try to explain it in my own version of

understanding... not going to be very detailed and

potentially inaccurate!

Titers measure the amount of antibodies that the

immune system has made against an organism.

There are various types of antibodies depending on the

stage of infection, like if you do an Epstein Barr

viral titer (mono), they'll measure IgM and IgG.

IgM would be elevated in the initial stages of an

infection, and once that virus becomes latent

(herpes-type viruses don't go away but rather become

latent or suppressed), the IgM should go down. IgG

antibodies I think are what keeps the viruses

suppressed. Sometimes in re-activation of a virus,

the IgM would not be positive but the IgG could get

higher, so very high IgG can still point to recent or

current re-activation of a virus.

Do you have a specific lab that you want to

understand? You could post the results and the range,

and see if anyone else's child has had a similar

result and what their doctor explained it as. I doubt

my 'explanation' is particularly useful in reading a

lab.

IgE antibodies are antibodies that would become

elevated in an allergic reaction. I don't think

they're related to infection but don't know for sure.

High IgE (when checking overall immunoglobulins) are

often present with a lot of allergies or asthma, for

example... maybe eczema?

A word about the viral titers: for example: HHV6. In

our kids, a lot of times HHV6 may be negative...

because this virus is capable of shifting the immune

system or hiding from it, so you could easily get

negative titers and the child have an active

infection. My son's titers were negative for months,

then after about 8? months on antivirals (6 mos on

Valtrex without good response, then two months on

Famvir if I remember), suddenly they were positive.

IgG was postive but not IgM. If IgM had been

positive, then the 'timing' would likely have been a

coincidence and he had just happened to catch the

virus in between checks. But in this case, I saw a

sudden brightening in his eyes, and we decided to

recheck after just a couple of months. Dr G had told

me it was almost certainly HHV6 - my kid was classic -

and the reason we switched to Famvir was because he

kept expecting the titers to manifest and they just

wouldn't on Valtrex.

Another type of dysfunction seen in some kids is

perhaps the immune system just keeps pumping out

antibodies to a virus even if it's not needed. Or not

putting out enough. LOL. So there are other

indicators of chronic infection other than

specifically viral titers. Titers can be helpful to

identify a specific infection, but cannot be

completely relied upon. CBCs can show chronic

infection (or shifts), the development of anemia that

won't resolve well with supplementation can be an

indicator, immune panels can show a shift toward viral

infection, and natural killer cells can be lower in

chronic infection as well. It can take someone quite

experienced to find markers indicating chronic

infection, and the overall history and labs together

are needed to make the clearest picture, so just

because all labs may come back within normal range

does not mean that there is not a problem going on.

If a child developed normally in the first few months

of life, then began regressing or stopped/slowed their

development, the only logical reason is a disease

process.

That wasn't particularly simple, huh?

Hope it helps.

--- Meade <jenniferdmeade@...> wrote:

> Hi,

>

> Can anyone give me a really simple explanation of

> viral titers and a " virus education 101 " ?

>

> Thanks -- - I am really confused... :-)

>

__________________________________________________

[Guest guest]

The Virus Within is a book I would highly recommend reading.

Michele