Poet, if you are unaware of the cohort that the CDC uses in their studies, poke around the internet. They have designed criteria that allow in people who are not actually physically ill at all but rather have psychological disorders and then make proclamations based on those disorders, and these are deeply harmful to those of us who have been ill.
If you have not paid attention to the sordid history of the CDC and CFS, this discussion will sound paranoid. It really boggles the mind what they've done, it feels like something out of a bad book. I don't know their reasons--it might simply be a long, drawn out case of confirmation bias. But they have dug in their heels--Dr. Reeves said as much in his quotes to the NYTimes. The CDC said long ago this wasn't a virus and have spent the last 25 years operating that way. It is, according to them, a "state of unwellness."
They announced today that they will use this same sample to do the tests on XMRV. By no one's measurements but their own do these people have CFS, and their methods have been criticized far and wide because of the harm they are doing. So if they do use this sample, they will not replicate the results, because 40% of those allowed in have Major Depression and not CFS at all.
If the retrovirus had been found earlier, perhaps I would not have infected my husband. Perhaps something could have been done before my pregnancy so I did not have to worry about my child. So, yes, I'm a bit annoyed at them for tilting at psychosomatic windmills while people get ill.
Sometimes, they are actually out to get you.