Hi everybody,
This is my first post. I joined because this forum seems to
have good, timely information and friendly people.
Here are questions that I have not yet seen answers to.
They are by no means skeptical; they are just me trying to
understand Lombardi et al. and know what is known.[fn:2]
I have a strong bias in favor of asking questions even when
they might turn out to be silly. Not doing so produces no
answers, and sometimes a question that seems silly at first
turns out to be deeply important.
So here goes.
1) Does anybody know the reason people positive for
antibodies but negative for XMRV DNA are sick? Is it
damage to the body? Will antiretrovirals help these
people? Are there treatments being considered for them?
Or is it due to the test and not the sufferers?
2) Have the 2-5% who tested negative for antibodies been
investigated to find out why? Is it likely to do with
the test and not the sufferers?
3) How high a percent would a perfectly sensitive DNA test
probably show? What is being tested (other than PBMCs)?
XMRV DNA before integration? XMRV DNA after integration
(i.e. in human chromosomes)? The latter would be 100%
for infected PBMCs given a perfectly sensitive test and
sufficient PBMCs, correct? Can RNA be tested for? Can
both types of DNA be tested for separately?
4) What disease states are likely? For example, not
infected, retrovirus not active, retrovirus active but
not infecting other cells, retrovirus infecting other
cells. Are there more states? Also, can you have
antibodies and not be infected at all (e.g. perhaps
because the immune system fought off viral particles)?
5) What are the false positive and false negative rates for
the tests offered so far? What is the likely rate for
the WPI test? Under what conditions are the tests more
accurate? Seems extremely important to know.
6) What standard determines whether a test produced a
false result?
7) Knowledgeable people are saying that circumstances
suggest causation rather than opportunistic pathogen.
I'd like to know the (detailed) chains of reasoning here.
8) If one of those chains is that all signs and symptoms
are explainable by retroviruses in general, then why has
a retrovirus been only one of many causal hypotheses held
by those who are not denialists? Just differences of
opinion about what could cause the signs and symptoms?
Multiple plausible causes?
9) Are ordinary viruses, fungal causes, other microbes,
genetic abnormalities (e.g. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), and
toxins (organochlorate, organophosphate, etc.) unable to
explain all signs and symptoms?
10) I am interested in the fungal connection. Many sufferers
cannot rid themselves of fungal colonization, even with
years of antifungals, and they are also hypersensitive.
What parts of the immune system are broken in this case?
Does XMRV break those parts? Do other retroviruses?
11) Do other inflammatory effects, such as repetitive
strain injury, appear to be explainable by XMRV?
12) Has autoimmunity been ruled out? Could XMRV cause it?
13) Does XMRV account for Los Angeles, Royal Free, Incline
Village, Chapel Hill, etc. outbreaks? What factors
would have made XMRV infect so many people then and not
at other times and places? Are there tissue samples
from pre-1950s outbreaks from which DNA can be reliably
obtained?
14) What proportion of medical staff has XMRV? Could it be
high, thus (perhaps along with other pathogens or
toxins) explaining Royal Free and the other medical
outbreaks?
15) I have heard that in one outbreak the sufferers were
overwhelmingly (or solely?) those whose path to work
took them through a single hallway. How does this fit
in?
16) What other diseases have been tested? I can think of
about 25 that make sense to test for. Lyme, AIDS to
find out if immunocompromised people are more likely to
be positive and by how much, other immune diseases, etc.
17) The website says this.
We have detected the retroviral infection XMRV is
greater than 95% of the more than 200 ME/CFS,
Fibromylagia, Atypical MS patients tested.
Was this 200 total? Was this antibodies?
18) What are the individual numbers for FM, autism, and
atypical MS? Was Gulf War Syndrome tested? I think
Cooperative Diagnostics claimed so, but I did not find
confirmation anywhere.
19) There is rumor of a culturing test. Does anybody know
what percent test positive for that?
That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading this far. I
know it's long
.
I haven't figured out this site yet, so please bear with me
if my settings are wrong.
Samuel
P.S. What mailing lists or IRC channels discuss these
matters, and treatments?
[fn:2] It's been a few days since I read the paper, so I
might have forgotten a few things. Please bear with me.
This is my first post. I joined because this forum seems to
have good, timely information and friendly people.
Here are questions that I have not yet seen answers to.
They are by no means skeptical; they are just me trying to
understand Lombardi et al. and know what is known.[fn:2]
I have a strong bias in favor of asking questions even when
they might turn out to be silly. Not doing so produces no
answers, and sometimes a question that seems silly at first
turns out to be deeply important.
So here goes.
1) Does anybody know the reason people positive for
antibodies but negative for XMRV DNA are sick? Is it
damage to the body? Will antiretrovirals help these
people? Are there treatments being considered for them?
Or is it due to the test and not the sufferers?
2) Have the 2-5% who tested negative for antibodies been
investigated to find out why? Is it likely to do with
the test and not the sufferers?
3) How high a percent would a perfectly sensitive DNA test
probably show? What is being tested (other than PBMCs)?
XMRV DNA before integration? XMRV DNA after integration
(i.e. in human chromosomes)? The latter would be 100%
for infected PBMCs given a perfectly sensitive test and
sufficient PBMCs, correct? Can RNA be tested for? Can
both types of DNA be tested for separately?
4) What disease states are likely? For example, not
infected, retrovirus not active, retrovirus active but
not infecting other cells, retrovirus infecting other
cells. Are there more states? Also, can you have
antibodies and not be infected at all (e.g. perhaps
because the immune system fought off viral particles)?
5) What are the false positive and false negative rates for
the tests offered so far? What is the likely rate for
the WPI test? Under what conditions are the tests more
accurate? Seems extremely important to know.
6) What standard determines whether a test produced a
false result?
7) Knowledgeable people are saying that circumstances
suggest causation rather than opportunistic pathogen.
I'd like to know the (detailed) chains of reasoning here.
8) If one of those chains is that all signs and symptoms
are explainable by retroviruses in general, then why has
a retrovirus been only one of many causal hypotheses held
by those who are not denialists? Just differences of
opinion about what could cause the signs and symptoms?
Multiple plausible causes?
9) Are ordinary viruses, fungal causes, other microbes,
genetic abnormalities (e.g. Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome), and
toxins (organochlorate, organophosphate, etc.) unable to
explain all signs and symptoms?
10) I am interested in the fungal connection. Many sufferers
cannot rid themselves of fungal colonization, even with
years of antifungals, and they are also hypersensitive.
What parts of the immune system are broken in this case?
Does XMRV break those parts? Do other retroviruses?
11) Do other inflammatory effects, such as repetitive
strain injury, appear to be explainable by XMRV?
12) Has autoimmunity been ruled out? Could XMRV cause it?
13) Does XMRV account for Los Angeles, Royal Free, Incline
Village, Chapel Hill, etc. outbreaks? What factors
would have made XMRV infect so many people then and not
at other times and places? Are there tissue samples
from pre-1950s outbreaks from which DNA can be reliably
obtained?
14) What proportion of medical staff has XMRV? Could it be
high, thus (perhaps along with other pathogens or
toxins) explaining Royal Free and the other medical
outbreaks?
15) I have heard that in one outbreak the sufferers were
overwhelmingly (or solely?) those whose path to work
took them through a single hallway. How does this fit
in?
16) What other diseases have been tested? I can think of
about 25 that make sense to test for. Lyme, AIDS to
find out if immunocompromised people are more likely to
be positive and by how much, other immune diseases, etc.
17) The website says this.
We have detected the retroviral infection XMRV is
greater than 95% of the more than 200 ME/CFS,
Fibromylagia, Atypical MS patients tested.
Was this 200 total? Was this antibodies?
18) What are the individual numbers for FM, autism, and
atypical MS? Was Gulf War Syndrome tested? I think
Cooperative Diagnostics claimed so, but I did not find
confirmation anywhere.
19) There is rumor of a culturing test. Does anybody know
what percent test positive for that?
That's all I have for now. Thanks for reading this far. I
know it's long
.I haven't figured out this site yet, so please bear with me
if my settings are wrong.
Samuel
P.S. What mailing lists or IRC channels discuss these
matters, and treatments?
[fn:2] It's been a few days since I read the paper, so I
might have forgotten a few things. Please bear with me.
