Daniel Peterson (physician)

Daniel Peterson is an American physician in private practice in the state of Nevada, and has been described as a "pioneer" in the treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).[1][2] He graduated from the University of Rochester School of Medicine, Rochester, New York, in 1976 and was an intern and resident at the University of Utah Medical Center from 1976-1979. In 1979 he became a Diplomat of the American Board of Internal Medicine.[3] He is president of Sierra Internal Medicine of Incline Village, established in 1981.[4]

Contents

Work in chronic fatigue syndrome

Along with Paul Cheney, Peterson was a treating physician at Incline Village during an outbreak of chronic fatigue syndrome that began in 1984 in the Lake Tahoe region.[5] From 1984 to 1987, the illness was recorded in 259 patients in the area by the two physicians. The Lake Tahoe outbreak became the subject of several studies by Peterson and others. In 1995, Peterson and other investigators started conducting a 10-year follow-up study on patients seen during the outbreak. The study results were published in 2001 by the Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.[6] In the 2000 CFS documentary I Remember Me, Peterson was interviewed about some of his experiences during the Lake Tahoe outbreak.[7]

In 1988, Peterson was the first physician to treat an extremely ill person diagnosed with CFS with the experimental drug Ampligen by obtaining compassionate-use permission from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. Quantitative improvement in the first patient enabled the next pilot study of Ampligen in CFS patients by Peterson and other researchers. During the 1990 CFIDS Conference in Charlotte, North Carolina, Peterson described positive results in 15 CFS patents after he treated them with Ampligen for approximately 6 months.[1] In 1990 and 1991, Peterson was one of four principal investigators for the FDA approved phase II randomized placebo controlled double-blind study of the experimental intravenous drug Ampligen. The drug was administered in his Incline Village facility and three other sites.[8] Peterson and others reported that there was statistically significant improvement in the patients receiving Ampligen.[9] He is a principal investigator of the FDA-approved open-label safety and efficacy phase III drug study of Ampligen for treatment of chronic fatigue syndrome.[10] Hemispherx Biopharma's New Drug Application for marketing and sale of Ampligen to treat chronic fatigue syndrome was rejected in December 2009 because the FDA concluded that the two RCTs "did not provide credible evidence of efficacy."[11]

Peterson was a member of the International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group that coauthored the most widely used clinical and research description of CFS,[12] called the 1994 CDC definition, and the Fukuda definition.[13] He is a coauthor of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Clinical Working Case Definition, Diagnostic and Treatment Protocols, initiated by Health Canada and published by an international group of researchers in 2003.[14][15][16]

Peterson, along with Annette and Harvey Whittemore, helped establish the Whittemore Peterson Institute (WPI) for Neuro-Immune Disease at the University of Nevada in 2005 to aid patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, fibromyalgia and related illnesses.[17] In October 2009 Peterson was interviewed on National Public Radio about his views on chronic fatigue syndrome and the newly published possible association with the retrovirus XMRV.[18]

In 2010, Peterson left WPI due to personal reasons. He stated there was a lack of collaboration with him over the research direction of the institute concerning XMRV.[19] Peterson then teamed with Jay Levy, one of the original discoverers of HIV, to try to determine whether XMRV is truly present in patients by testing the same patients used in the study published in Science.[19] They did not find indications of XMRV in the blood of the patients tested, and also concluded from their experiments that XMRV does not, "survive well in human blood", so human infection is unlikely. They also stated that research results published by others suggested that laboratory contamination may have resulted in false positive results in the original study.[20]

Affiliations and awards

Peterson is a member of the board of directors and the scientific advisory board of the HHV-6 Foundation,[2] a non-profit organization promoting human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) associated scientific and clinical research.[21] Peterson was part of the founding board and is a past-president of the International Association for CFS/ME,[3] a professional organization advocating for the interests of CFS researchers and clinicians worldwide.[22][23]

In 2003, he received the Rudy Perpich award, an award given to distinguished CFS/FM scientists, physicians or healthcare workers, and in 2007, received the Nelson Gantz Outstanding Clinician Award from the International Association for CFS/ME.[24]

In 1999, Peterson was commended by the Assembly and Senate of the State of Nevada for his work and dedication to persons with chronic fatigue syndrome.[25]

Selected publications

References

  1. ^ a b Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Treatment Guide. Macmillan. 1998. p. 152. ISBN 0312180667, 9780312180669. http://books.google.com/?id=VtHlTVfToiQC&pg=PA152&lpg=PA152&dq=peterson+first+used+ampligen+in+cfs. 
  2. ^ a b "HHV-6 Foundation Board of Directors". HHV-6 Foundation. 2004. http://hhv-6foundation.webs.com/boardofdirectors.htm. Retrieved 2009-03-18. 
  3. ^ a b "executive staff". The Whittemore Peterson Institute. 2008. http://www.wpinstitute.org/about/about_execboard.html. Retrieved 2009-01-11. 
  4. ^ "Sierra Internal Medicine". Dun and Bradstreet. 2008. http://www.manta.com/coms2/dnbcompany_f4xfgj. Retrieved 2009-01-12. 
  5. ^ Sam Donaldson, Nancy Snyderman, Paul Cheney, David Bell, Elaine DeFreitas, Hillary Johnson, PWC's, Paul Pollard, Mrs. Dailor, Philip Lee (1996-03-27). Sick & Tired (Television). ABC News. 
  6. ^ Paula S. Strickland, PhD, MPH; Paul H. Levine, MD; Daniel L. Peterson, MD; Karen O'Brien, BS; Thomas Fears, PhD (2001). "Neuromyasthenia and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) in Northern Nevada/California: A Ten-Year Follow-Up of an Outbreak". Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. 9 3/4: 3–14. http://dceg.cancer.gov/cgi-bin-pubsearch/pubsearch/index.pl?page=abstract&ID=6563&project=dceg. 
  7. ^ [|Ebert, Roger] (December 7, 2001). "I remember Me". Movie Review. Roger Ebert Chicago Suntimes. http://rogerebert.suntimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20011207/REVIEWS/112070301/1023. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 
  8. ^ Johnson, Hillary (1996). Osler's web: inside the labyrinth of the chronic fatigue syndrome epidemic. New York: Crown Publishers. p. 385. ISBN 0-517-70353-X. 
  9. ^ Strayer DR, Carter WA, Brodsky I, et al (January 1994). "A controlled clinical trial with a specifically configured RNA drug, poly(I).poly(C12U), in chronic fatigue syndrome". Clin. Infect. Dis.. 18 Suppl 1: S88–95. PMID 8148460. 
  10. ^ "Study of Ampligen in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". U.S. National Institutes of Health. September 2005. http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT00215813. Retrieved 2009-01-06. 
  11. ^ George, John (Modified: Thursday, December 3, 2009). "FDA rejects Hemispherx's chronic fatigue drug Ampligen". Philadelphia Business Journal. http://philadelphia.bizjournals.com/philadelphia/stories/2009/11/30/daily23.html. Retrieved 2010-02-12. 
  12. ^ Wyller VB (2007). "The chronic fatigue syndrome--an update". Acta neurologica Scandinavica. Supplementum 187 (s187): 7–14. doi:10.1111/j.1600-0404.2007.00840.x. PMID 17419822. 
  13. ^ Fukuda K, Straus S, Hickie I, Sharpe M, Dobbins J, Komaroff A (1994). "The chronic fatigue syndrome: a comprehensive approach to its definition and study. International Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Study Group.". Ann Intern Med 121 (12): 953–9. doi:10.1059/0003-4819-121-12-199412150-00009 (inactive 2010-01-07). PMID 7978722. http://www.annals.org/cgi/content/full/121/12/953. 
  14. ^ Carruthers BM, et al. (2003). "Myalgic encephalomyalitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: Clinical working definition, diagnostic and treatment protocols" (PDF). Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome 11 (1): 7–36. doi:10.1300/J092v11n01_02. http://www.cfids-cab.org/MESA/ccpccd.pdf. 
  15. ^ Carruthers BM (February 2007). "Definitions and aetiology of myalgic encephalomyelitis: how the Canadian consensus clinical definition of myalgic encephalomyelitis works". J. Clin. Pathol. 60 (2): 117–9. doi:10.1136/jcp.2006.042754. PMC 1860613. PMID 16935963. http://www.pubmedcentral.nih.gov/articlerender.fcgi?tool=pmcentrez&artid=1860613. 
  16. ^ Practical General Practice: Guidelines for Effective Clinical Management (5th New edition). Elsevier Health Sciences. 24 April 2006. pp. 419–421. ISBN 9780750688673, 075068867X. 
  17. ^ Powers, Lenita (1 November 2009). "Daughter's illness led family to seek help, start institute". Reno Gazette-Journal. http://www.wpinstitute.org/news/docs/RGJ-daughters_illness.pdf. Retrieved 10 February 2010. 
  18. ^ Montagne, Renee (October 9, 2009). "Virus Tied To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome". National Public Radio (National Public Radio). http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=113650222. Retrieved 2010-03-06. 
  19. ^ a b Callaway, Ewen (14 March 2011). "Virology: Fighting for a cause". Nature 471: 282–85. doi:10.1038/471282a. http://www.nature.com/news/2011/110314/full/471282a.html. 
  20. ^ Jay A. Levy and Daniel L. Peterson (September 30, 2011). "The mystery of chronic fatigue syndrome". Los Angeles Times. http://articles.latimes.com/2011/sep/30/opinion/la-oe-levy-chronic-fatigue-syndrome-20110930. Retrieved 10 February 2011. 
  21. ^ "HHV-6 Foundation". National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke. http://www.ninds.nih.gov/find_people/voluntary_orgs/volorg863.htm. Retrieved 2009-02-15. 
  22. ^ Friedberg F, Sohl S, Schmeizer B (August 2007). "Publication trends in chronic fatigue syndrome: comparisons with fibromyalgia and fatigue: 1995-2004". J Psychosom Res 63 (2): 143–6. doi:10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.03.003. PMID 17662750. 
  23. ^ David Tuller, "Expert Q&A, Learning Firsthand about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome" Interview with Leonard Jason, [1] April 30, 2008
  24. ^ "Former IACFS/ME awardees". International Association for CFS/ME. http://www.iacfsme.org/FormerIACFSAwardees/tabid/209/Default.aspx. Retrieved 2009-01-07. 
  25. ^ "AJR14". Nevada Legislative Counsel Bureau. Apr.08,1999. http://www.leg.state.nv.us/Session/70th1999/bills/AJR/AJR14_EN.html. Retrieved 2010-10-13.