Jawdropping data here showing dozens of #viruses - many rarely even discussed or tested for on a regular basis - in sewage collected from wastewater in multiple USA cities. The viruses are identified via unbiased sequencing that can identify any viral genome in the samples.
2/ Because the viruses are being identified in wastewater it's possible that some viruses are harbored by animals - for example cattle or birds - whose feces end up in the wastewater
3/ However, it's likely that most of the viruses being shed into wastewater come from infected humans. Viruses like the enteroviruses A, B, C, D68, Rhinoviruses A, B, C, Rotaviruses, Noroviruses, Rotaviruses, Mastadenoviruses, Adenoviruses, Rhinoviruses, Influenza viruses, etc.
4/ Now consider that many of these viruses have been shown capable of persistence in human tissue/nerves. For example, persistent #enterovirus infection in tissues such as gut or muscle has been documented in #ME/CFS: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19828908/
5/ But really, just think of all the chronic conditions out there with incomplete knowledge on root cause drivers of symptoms: most of the "#autoimmune" diseases, neuropsychiatric conditions & #neurodegenerative diseases
6/ To what degree are these viruses - either by promoting #inflammation/epigenetic/#mitochondrial alterations during acute infection, or via their long-term persistence in tissue/nerve as members of the human #virome - contributing to these chronic diseases?
7/ As one of hundreds of possible examples, #influenza infection during pregnancy is consistently connected to increased risk of #schizophrenia later in life: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC70…
8/ Other teams have found #coronavirus RNA and/or antigen (e.g. 229E) in multiple sclerosis brain tissue samples, including in plaque and non-plaque areas of brainstem, cortex, & spinal cord: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC71…
9. Dozens of studies have identified persistent #SARS-CoV-2 RNA in body sites such as the #gut wall or even the brainstem, that could contribute to key symptoms of long COVID: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/37667052/
10/ And yet the vast majority of these viruses are barely acknowledged to even be infecting people on a regular basis (as the wastewater data obtained by Marc and team demonstrates is happening)
11/ Certainly, the average medical clinical does no testing for most of the viruses the team is finding in wastewater. We're lucky these days if clinics even bother to test people for SARS-CoV-2 when they have respiratory/GI or other symptoms
12/ Instead, despite people being infected by these viruses again...and again, and again...many teams in the chronic disease and even the human #longevity space continue linking chronic illness or inflammaging to purely sterile processes
13/ In the #ME/CFS field for example, we have scientists who think that patients "flipping" into some sort of sterile "trap" or "shunt" is central to disease development
14/ Which completely ignores the fact that we are repeatedly infected by dozens of viruses that directly hijack the #mitochondria of cells, especially if they persist in our tissues or nerves over time: wap.hapres.com/htmls/IJ_1341_…
15/ Or teams in the longevity space that track human biological age via measurement of #epigenetic changes, assumed to be driven by the human genome acting alone in a sterile world
16/ When research shows that viruses - including several of those being shed into our wastewater as we speak - create proteins that hack the signaling of human #longevity networks regulating the epigenome, senescence, and apoptosis: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/36649176/
17/ And then consider that in addition to pathogens capable of being identified in wastewater, people are also regularly infected with #tick-borne/vector-borne pathogens such as Borrelia, Bartonella, Babesia, Rickettsia, etc.
18/ And #mosquito-borne viruses such as West Nile virus, dengue, chikungunya, Zika, and eastern equine encephalitis, Jamestown Canyon viruses, etc.: cdc.gov/mosquitoes/abo…
19/ Or #parasites such as Trypanosoma cruzi, Toxocara, etc.; with more than 60 million people in the USA alone chronically infected with Toxoplasma gondii, a parasite connected to schizophrenia and other chronic diseases: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC30…
20/ Oh and don't forget the #herpesviruses - Epstein-Barr, Varicella-zoster, HHV6, Cytomegalovirus, etc. - that are regularly passed from person to person via common close contact
21/ While at the same time being directly implicated in #Alzheimer's progression: for example, this study found Cytomegalovirus co-localized with amyloid plaque in Alzheimer’s brain/vagus nerve/gut tissue: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC11…
22/ Or this Harvard team data showing that herpesviruses, bacteria, and fungi can directly "seed" Alzheimer's amyloid beta plaque in organoid and animal models: pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/30001512/
23/ The overall ability of hundreds of commonly acquired pathogens to drive chronic disease and aging processes means we should be rushing to create novel #antivirals, antimicrobials, & antiparasitic drugs
24/ We should be falling over each other to develop better, more targeted, sensitive #diagnostics to better identify pathogens in people at standard medical clinics
25/ But instead, we have people positioning the JAK inhibitors - drugs that *downregulate critical infection control pathways - in conditions like long COVID, ME/CFS, Alzheimer's
26/ Drugs that have black box warnings for serious #infections, mortality, malignancy, cardiovascular events, and thrombosis on their labels
27/ While failing to move forward obvious trials of affordable, existing #antivirals such as valacyclovir or Famciclovir in ME/CFS, Long COVID, Alzheimer's, etc.
28/ Failing to do so while sitting on data like this: a study showing that people who regularly took anti-herpesvirus medications were almost 10 times less likely to develop Alzheimer's disease: pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC59…
29/ Enough then! I am tired of waiting for a slow and painful paradigm shift that centers the human #virome and related #pathogens at the heart of human chronic disease
20/ I'm glad that people these days are increasingly connecting #pesticides, chemicals, processed foods, and other #exposome factors to the chronic disease epidemic
31. But we cannot ignore the fact that the #infections we repeatedly sustain interact with those factors to drive chronic disease. They accelerate the immune dysfunction that stymies our ability to manage the exposome-related factors
32/ So, look again at Marc Johnson and team's wastewater data and tell me you don't want to rapidly understand how those viruses could be contributing to dozens of chronic conditions
31/ Let's do it - let's dramatically accelerate efforts to document infections as a driver of chronic disease. Successfully curbing the #epidemic of chronic disease hinges on such efforts
Share this Scrolly Tale with your friends.
A Scrolly Tale is a new way to read Twitter threads with a more visually immersive experience.
Discover more beautiful Scrolly Tales like this.