Cort, i know you want to stay positive but "The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) named W. Ian Lipkin, MD, co-chair of its National Biosurveillance Advisory Subcommittee (NBAS). As the subcommittee to the CDC, NBAS provides counsel to the federal government on the broad range of issues impacting the development and implementation of a nationwide biosurveillance strategy for human health.
Appointed to this job, just when the CDC published their negative paper and but put hold the Alter and Lo paper, on the 15. July, by the CDC appointed !
"Lipkin has been 'called on' to investigate a viral association with CFS; he authored a negative study on the link between Borna disease virus (BDV) and CFS in 1999." "in a classical example of the pitfalls of PCR diagnostics, particularly using nesting methods, BDV was implicated in a wide variety of disorders that included major depressive disorder, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), AIDS encephalopathy, multiple sclerosis, motor neuron disease, and brain tumors (glioblastoma multiforme) (75). Following a report of BDV RNA in the blood of more than 50% of CFS subjects, which raised concerns for blood product safety (87, 88), we were recruited to pursue a replication study. We found no BDV nucleic acid or specific immunoreactivity in a blinded analysis of well-characterized CFS subjects. At the time of this writing, there is no conclusive evidence that BDV infects humans. However, new highly divergent strains of BDV were recently identified...Thus, it is conceivable that there are human strains yet to be found."
As some smart person remarked on another forum :[Another rather uncomfortable similarity: he mentions that although unpopular, publishing negative/ refuting studies can be a community service, including in the sense that it can "prevent the inappropriate or unnecessary use of drugs that are toxic or in short supply".]
There is certainly a lot of good to be said about him as a top virus hunter, but adding all this facts, especially that he works for a subcommittee of the CDC, i think it is naive to think this study will be in the interest of us patients ! One can always hope for miracles, but the CDC has not and will not change it's policies, unless they are forced to !
Aruschima