With the publication of this issue, The National CFIDS Foundation is prepared to take a lot of flak! We expect it. We got out packets of material that showed just a sample of the information we've been collecting. We know we're going to hear from many who will challenge us, disparage us, and do what they can to discredit us. We are only reporting on the truth, but that carries a lot of baggage. What we're really doing is exposing the "old boy's network" That's a no-no. But we plan to do more than merely expose it. Our future plans will be announced along with their results. Meanwhile, we reprint the abstract from the CRISP files (government-funded abstracts). The abstract below was the same one asked for by Hillary Johnson, author of Osler's Web: Inside the Labyrinth of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome under an FOIA (Freedom of Information Act). She, however, received it all blacked out except for the PI (principal investigator) name! The government is allowed to do this only if the information is so sensitive that it may harm the United States! The following is a direct quotation from the CRISP search: " Abstract Grant Number: 3RO1A132710-0353 PI Name: Grossberg, Sidney E. PI Title Project Title: JHK VIRUS Abstract: our goal is to determine by morphologic, genetic, biochemical, and immulogic means whether the JHK virus, an enveloped virus, and enveloped, 80-nm, RNA virus produced constitutively by a B lymphoblastoid cell line established in our laboratory, is a new human retrovirus. If the evidence obtained substantiates its novelty, additional goals will include exploring in depth its biology and molecular genetics and establishing its possible relationship to human disease, especially chronic fatigue immune deficiency syndrome (CFIDS), leukemia, and lymphoma. Future long-range goals include the study of is (sic) molecular epidemiology, possibly oncogene involvement, and the role of cytokines and transforming or growth factors in JHK-infected cells. The salient features of our putative new virus must be compared with those of known retroviruses. Our specific aims, therefore, are to investigate JHK virus: (i) ultrastructure: (ii) nucleic acid; (iii) antigenic nature in relation to known human retroviruses (HTLV-1 and -II and HIV); (iv) reverse transcriptase: (v) infectivity for various somatic cells and (vi) reactivity with serum from J.H. and selected patients in order to help determine its possible role in humans disease. Since the JHK-3 cell line also contains Epstein-Barr virus DNA and nuclear antigen and a 196-nm viral particle of unusual morphology, this particle will be identified and its relationship determined, if any, to JHK viral infection. To achieve these aims we intend to: (i) analyze viral fine structure by electron microscopy; (ii) clone JHK virus by transfection; (iii) characterize the viral RNA; (iv) clone a cDNA copy of the viral RNA for sequencing and creation of probes; (v) clone the reverse transcrioptase gene by PCR (vi) produce antiviral polyclonal and monoclonal antibodies; (vii) identify specific JHK antigens; (viii) test for specific antibodies in selected patient groups; and (ix) probe, as the reagents are developed, for the presence of the virus in peripheral mononuclear cells of selected patients by appropriate hybridizations and after DNA amplification by the polymerase chain reaction." Thesaurus terms follow along with the date of the grant (1993, renewed in 1997.) The patent we have was filed over two years ago, so all the above has been accomplished. Anthony Komaroff, M.D. supplied the project's recent samples from his patient population. (When he said HHV6 is found in the normal population, he was purposely not differentiating between HHV-6A and HHV-6B.) The project's end is August 31st of this year (2000).¯