is there yet a viral load test?

[Rrrr]

is there yet a viral load test for xmrv, hmrv or MuLV-related viruses?

didn't someone say at the xmrv conference that there was?

 

[Rrrr]

the reason i ask is that we'll need this in order to see if we get better from treatments, right?

 

[Otis]

Rrrr,

In general yes. With this virus, who knows how helpful that will be given the low copy numbers and the unknown viral reservoir(s).

Dr. Coffin, which discussing a very limited clinical trial, mentioned the need for a way to measure viral load, as I recall. That would seem to indicate there is not a method as of yet.

There is a possible method mentioned http://www.forums.aboutmecfs.org/showthread.php?7429-Wall-Street-Journal-XMRV-Inactivation-in-Blood-Supply.

Just told you much more than I know.

Otis

 

[SOC]

the reason i ask is that we'll need this in order to see if we get better from treatments, right?

Yes, and no, as I understand it. :Retro smile: Researchers want to know whether treatment lowers viral load, so they want a viral load test. Whether we get better is less relevant to the research in the early stages.

Lowering viral load doesn't necessarily correlate to whether we get better. Our viral load could drop and we could still not be getting better because we still have lots of secondary infections, for example. Or the damage could already be done and reducing viral load can't undo it (grim thought).

Or, we could be getting better without the viral load dropping -- I think. At least that's what my former PCP was telling me about herpesvirus titres -- but maybe we were miscommunicating.

 

[*GG*]

Lowering viral load doesn't necessarily correlate to whether we get better. Our viral load could drop and we could still not be getting better because we still have lots of secondary infections, for example. Or the damage could already be done and reducing viral load can't undo it (grim thought).

Or, we could be getting better without the viral load dropping -- I think. At least that's what my former PCP was telling me about herpesvirus titres -- but maybe we were miscommunicating.

Mike Dessin is one of at least a few people who came back from the Abyss. Unless your circumstance is somehow much different then these other people, we can probably come back from a lot! I mean look at what we deal with now, and are still alive!!