Why did some in the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome community sabotage Hillary Johnson's book?
An excerpt from The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up
In the May
6 issue, Neenyah Ostrom wrote a piece about one of the great moments of
betrayal in the history of CFS: “The largest chronic fatigue syndrome patient
advocate group in the United States has, for all intents and purposes, declared
war on the epidemic’s most prominent author over the subject that seems to draw
the line in the sand between those who are willing to tell the whole truth
about CFS and those who are not: contagion. In its most recently-published CFIDS Chronicle (Spring 1996), the CFIDS
Association of America (in Charlotte, North Carolina) has mounted a merciless
attack upon Hillary Johnson’s new book, Osler’s
Web: Inside the Labyrinth of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic. Instead
of celebrating the publication by a major publishing house of an important book
describing in the minutest detail the history of the disease that the CFIDS
Association has been attempting to publicize for nearly a decade, the
organization has marshalled all its experts to attack Johnson because she writes
that there is evidence to prove that CFS is contagious. In the spring issue of
the CFIDS Chronicle, the Association
consulted numerous physicians and researchers—most of whom are either
government employees or receive government funding for their ‘AIDS’ or CFS
research—and asked if they considered CFS to be contagious. Only one was brave
enough to answer in the affirmative. Never mind that the CFIDS Association has
distributed tens of thousands of dollars—collected from sick people, their
families, and concerned individuals—for research to identify a causative agent
of CFS. Much of this money has been spent investigating various viruses;
considerable amounts were invested over the past few years to investigate a
retrovirus as a possible cause of CFS.”
Now an audiobook!
On April 16, 1996, Congressman Jerrold Nadler spoke on the floor of Congress about his request for a General Accounting investigation into how the CDC had handled the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemic. Nadler did that at the urging of Charles Ortleb, the publisher and the New York Native and his reporter Neenyah Ostrom. Ortleb and Ostrom had made the case to Nadler that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the virus it had been linked to, HHV-6, were serious public health issues.
In an interview in New York Native with Neenyah Ostrom,Congressman Nadler said, "Congress can mandate research into CFS as a viral disease. Maybe it will turn out that HHV-6A is the cause of CFS; maybe it will turn out that other viruses are involved. But Congress can mandate research into CFS as a contagious, viral disease. I will certainly try to get Congress to do that as soon as possible."
Unfortunately, back in 1996, Nadler's warning to Congress and the medical establishment fell on deaf ears. But now that the Democrats have regained power in the House of Representatives, the newly prominent Congressman Nadler may finally be able to bring the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemic and HHV-6 to the public's attention.
This book by Charles Ortleb, which details Neenyah Ostrom's diligent reporting on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, is necessary reading for anyone who wants to know the whole history of an epidemic which has been hidden in plain sight. For a decade, starting in 1988, Ostrom reported on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the damage that the virus HHV-6 does to patients. What her reporting uncovered about the true nature of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome epidemic will shock you.
In The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up, Charles Ortleb recounts his newspaper's fascinating struggle to get the medical and political establishment to pay attention to Ostrom's pioneering investigative reporting on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
By the time you finish Ortleb's stunning memoir, you will understand why the CDC has been unwilling to tell the public the truth about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. The CDC does not want the public to know that Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a transmissible illness linked to a virus that affects every system in the body. They have covered up the illness for so many decades that the neglected virus is totally out of control. Now it is causing a long list of other illnesses and many cancers. The CDC has put us all in danger.
Ostrom's decade of reporting on HHV-6 was recently vindicated by this statement from scientists at the University of Wurzburg: "While HHV-6 was long believed to have no negative impact on human health, scientists today increasingly suspect the virus of causing various diseases such as multiple sclerosis or chronic fatigue syndrome. Recent studies even suggest that HHV-6 might play a role in the pathogenesis of several diseases of the central nervous system such as schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, depression or Alzheimer's."
The big question about Neenyah Ostrom and New York Native is this: How many lives would have been saved if the scientific establishment and the mainstream media had paid more attention to Neenyah Ostrom's reporting on HHV-6 and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in New York Native?
One day, if there is any justice in the world, the CDC and the medical establishment will apologize for not paying attention to Neenyah Ostrom's groundbreaking work on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome that Charles Ortleb published in New York Native. That would be a fitting end to one of journalism's greatest David and Goliath stories.
Anyone who wants to help Congressman Nadler and the other members of Congress who are trying to end the suffering of millions of people with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, needs to read The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic Cover-up.
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Purchase the book in Mexico
Purchase the book in the United Kingdom
Purchase the book in Germany
Purchase the book in France
Purchase the book in the Netherlands
Purchase the book in Spain
Purchase the book in Australia
Purchase the book in Japan
Purchase the book in India