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Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.
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The head of the CDC, Brian Mahy, as I recall, stepped down as a result of the accounting scandal regarding CFS funds - we did snare a pretty fish that time, if memory serves me right - so people can - at least at times - get their just due. I'm certainly not saying that it happens all the time. It would be fascinating to learn why Reeves was pushed out after so many years at the helm....I wonder if we'll ever know.
I believe this is the key 'conspiracy' over the years - the decision not to investigate CFS; that is the big, big problem in my opinion.
I'm on board with muffin. There is an effort to keep this covered up. The reason is due to economic reasons. What happens when 7% or more people have this sucker?(I think much much more) What happens with health insurance, blood testing, disability insurance, blood transfusions, economic activity, plane travel, global trade, social interaction, the stock market...... the list goes on. They are trying to keep the wheels on the economy as it is (I think XMRV is greatly repsonsible for the current weak economic state as it is) This is one dang ugly cat to keep in the bag!
Hanlon's Razor invites us to never attribute to malice that which can be explained by stupidity.
It's generally a good rule with humans, dumb as we are.
The problem here is that we are in a situation where the stupidity is so spectacular that it becomes extremely hard to imagine that world-famous professors and top researchers for the government can really be that stupid.
People are very afraid of being wrong, and they are highly invested in protecting their careers. This leads to a lack of objectivity--narrow-mindedness and tunnel vision prevail.
It's like trying to keep covering up lies with bigger and bigger lies. It would have been better all along to just fess up when it was a little white lie and take your lumps.
Just an editorial point. "The Fed" usually is used to refer to the Federal Reserve. While occasionally it might be intended to refer to the federal government in general, most often - especially these days with so much economic upheaval - it's used to refer to the banking system. It might be better to change the title to "XMRV at HHS," or even "XMRV at the CDC," just to avoid that possible confusion for people who might show up from search engines thinking they were going to read an article about a new financial policy or something like that from the Fed (Federal Reserve). ;-)
Reeves put the CDC in a very bad spot PR-wise by announcing publicly (NY Times? February?) that he didn't expect the CDC to find XMRV in CFS patients. Announcing the probable conclusion of future research is bad science that makes the CDC look incompetent. The media didn't care much at the time, but if he were head of CFS research at the CDC when XMRV in ME/CFS becomes clear (next month), the quote would be remembered and the CDC would lose all credibility with the public on XMRV.
Even worse, didn't Reeves also claim at the same time that XMRV was "ubiquitous" (despite absolutely no evidence that is true)? So he didn't expect to find a virus that is literally everywhere? Haha! No wonder he still lives in his father's shadow.
His father's shadow? What's that story?
I remember reading something about his father being a more successful scientist/virologist.
The head of the CDC, Brian Mahy, as I recall, stepped down as a result of the accounting scandal regarding CFS funds - we did snare a pretty fish that time, if memory serves me right - so people can - at least at times - get their just due. I'm certainly not saying that it happens all the time. It would be fascinating to learn why Reeves was pushed out after so many years at the helm....I wonder if we'll ever know.
Hmmmm..... Interesting story. Lends itself to a lot of speculation....
Secondly, regarding what some have said in this thread about govmt being concerned how the xmrv discovery is going to hit the US with its compromised economy etc, let me get this straight, are some of you guys saying that the govmt and citizens may freak to realize its as easy to get as a common flu or cold but dif is that it turns on certain genes in some people and thus you could get cancer or cfs etc So when people understand that and that there really isn't a way to completely protect against that without living in a bubble......it makes me think of that other current neuroscientist, James Fallon, that I heard on NPR recently, a geneticist who was blown away to discover that per MRI he had the same kind of brain as the psychopaths he studies and he realized, not being an apparent murderer, a good guy, that one's environment must interact with genes to determine what gets expressed in one's future behavior, good childhood can count for a lot. So now though I am thinking the third ingredient to happy healthy life is avoiding certain infections/virus that might activate genes you don't want activated......all this reminds me of the "boys from brazil" but I digress too much.
But if xmrv is easily transmitted, houston we do have a problem. I could see the govmt wanting to conceal that, I mean you could get cancer 20 years from now cus of the clerk who sneezes on your money at the grocery store that one time??
I saw Dr Cheney once and he said he believed his heart problems in the new millenium were likely his expression of being exposed to the cfids virus, whatever it is (this was a few years ago) and he thought he could remember the moment he was exposed in the 80s, feeling weak for a moment or something like getting sick and faltering in step and then not coming down with it. It makes me wonder if the time I flew to Arizona from midwest for first time in 86 if got something on the plane, I felt strange anxiety on that flight normally don't have and then as soon as hit PHoenix was sick, figured it was allergies, although I wasn't an allergic type back then, it passed with a couple days and had fun out dancing etc but then when back home strange fluish stuff returned for a week with a new sharp pain in spine, it all passed, except for new intermittent pain that I remedied with lifting weights and I was fine for a couple years til had surgery then the floodgates opened......or was it the vax as child in early 60s? Does anyone remember anything weird back then? One of my earliest memories is not being able to move my legs for a couple days and being in pain like flu after booster but it must have passed quickly and parents never mentioned it later, did get recurring mono as teen though. So much to figure out, what was the tipping point? These are the sorts of quandries that will play in people's minds once they realize the mechanism to illness, if indeed it is that easily transmissable. But also isn't it true that we don't know if xmrv causes the sickness or is just associated when its there?
Hi markmc20001
I have said it before so: this is so big it could precipitate another global financial crisis. There is real fear about that, and with reason. That is what happens when you ignore a growing problem for half a century. Sooner or later you get a wakeup call, and the later it is, the nastier the consequences.
Seven percent is now a modest prediction in my view. High end predictions would be over 10%, with a low of around 4% based on current data.
Bye
Alex
Heya, we are thinking the same way on that one. I was thinking right as the dow dropped below the 200 moving average if that positive paper was released what would happen.
However, Obama is an idealist and I think he really wants to do the right thing. Almost to a fault. So I don't think he will bury the info to prevent research from movin foward on this one. I just question how he will let it break. LIke look at the gulf spill, he shouldn;t have stopped all drilling in the gulf(good in principle, but damaging to the economy especially considering the likelyhood of another spill) SO Obama is just taking a good long time, after probably getting an earful from all his advisers and handlers.
SO he has a real dilemma with this XMRV stuff, if it was totally up to Obama he would figure out a way to allow the knowledge to be used, but maybe without admitting it is XMRV. Maybe they wil blame it on toxins and genetics or something. However, we only see a very small part of really what goes on in the news.... so who knows...".
Alex, your quote is too funny, ignoring the train lights......
We will all make it, just we are watching some real history in the making....In 5 or ten years, we be going, remember how things were before that XMRV vaccine?