Mary Schweitzer on HHV-6
My Story - Mary Schweitzer (cfids-me.org) HHV-6A and the 37kDa Rnase-L Factor are two of three biomarkers that seem to be useful predictors of success with an experimental drug called Ampligen, an asymmetrical double-stranded synthetic RNA. (I did not have the test for the third, a low natural killer cell function.) I had heard of Ampligen on internet almost as soon as I was diagnosed but no one could get it in the United States. By 1998, however, I could get Ampligen if I wanted it, as long as we were willing to pay the price. Because of those positive test results, and because my health was deteriorating rapidly, my family and I decided it was worth the money and the personal risk to try the experimental drug on a cost-recovery basis. That meant I knew I was getting the drug (and not a placebo), but I had to pay the company's costs, which were quite steep. Fortunately, my parents helped us out in the first years when the total cost was roughly $40,000/year cash (since 2003...
