Just in case anyone's interested in the article printed in the Quarterly journal of me/cfs Australia (Victoria) "Emerge" Winter 2010:
From Professor Andrew Lloyd, Centre of Infection and Inflammation Research, University of New South Wales
"I would strongly advise against making arrangements for blood samples to be tested for XMRV by the newly formed commercial company associated with the Whittmore Peterson Institute in the USA. I suggest this not because I have doubts about the good intentions of the scientists at the Institute or the Viral Immune Pathways Diagnostic Laboratories (VIP Dx). Rather, this recommendation comes from the rapidly growing body of evidence against the findings in the original report in Science which raises serious questions about the both reliability and the significance of the original findings. In particular, there are now two published studies from the UK which have failed to detect the genetic material (i.e. DNA) of XMRV or antibodies against the virus in patients with CFS [1,2], and two others with similar findings are in press (one from Europe and one from the USA). Together these findings suggest three possible explanations: i) that the scientists from the Institute have unique expertise that no other well-credentialled laboratories across the globe can reproduce - this is implausible; ii) that XMRV is found in some patients with CFS and a smaller proportion of healthy individuals in the USA, but has little or no relevance to the illness (as patients from elsewhere across the world have CFS but don't have XMRV detected, and healthy people can carry the virus without illness) - this is possible; iii) the original findings are attributable to a systematic error such as cross-contamination of samples with a source of XMRV in the Institute laboratory. Only time will tell which of these three possibilities is accurate. In the interim, the reliability of the test being offered by Viral Immune Pathways Diagnostic Laboratories (VIP Dx) must be regarded with caution. If further data indicates that the XMRV association with CFS has credibility, then arrangements will be made to implement the test in Australia. More importantly, it would be highly inappropriate to consider anti-retroviral medication to "treat" XMRV detected by the VIP Dx assay - firstly as the test may or may not be accurate; and secondly as there is a real potential for serious harm arising from the use of antiretroviral medication (as is well recognised in the treatment of patients with HIV infection).
1. Erlwein O, et al. Failure to detect the novel retrovirus XMRV in chronic fatigue sydnrome. PLoS One 2010;5:e8519
2. Groom H, et al. Absence of xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus in UK patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Retrovirology 2010;7:10"
(Bolding is mine)
[I(]Can someone please tell me how to undo the italics please.)
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