Got it! Think about it like this (If I over simplified, I'm sorry). . .
I'm a science teacher teaching my class to calibrate a weight scale, so they can tell me how many drops of water are in each of say 6 tubes.
I give each group of kids (NCI, CDC, WPI, FDA, NIH etc) in the class
1 empty tube
1 with 1 drop of water
1 with 2 drops
1 with 3 drops
1 with 4 drops
1 with 5 drops of water.
But the kids can's see into the tubes they are opaque and sealed. Everybody get the same sets. The group that get's each tubes water amount correct wins the big prize. An A. (grins)
Each kid has to figure out how to set the scale so that the empty tube is the base line (0 XMRV) and then be able to weigh each tube and say exactly how much water is in each tube. (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 drops or in this case how many copies of XMRV)
All of the groups NCI, CDC, FDA, NIH got exactly the same tubes with the same amounts of XMRV in them. One had 0 ( I can't really make out the numbers but say for argument ) one had 20 copies of XMRV, one had 100 copies, 500, 1,000 and 5,000. Each team used the serology assay that they had come up with to see if they could determine how many copies where in each tube. They wrote down their answers and handed them in.
This chart is the result. If you got a red bar then you were dead on the money, if you got a yellow bar you were half right, (partial credit here) if you got a green bar you where wrong. Both the FDA and WPI got one wrong answer each.
What does that mean? Well, the WPI are still the smart kids in the class in that, even though their serology test wasn't perfect they are still the best at finding XMRV the old fashion way using the culture methods. They are still best at checking their work. Most likely the reason VIP hasn't put the serology test up yet is because the WPI had to fix the problem with their test. I have no doubt that they would not put out a faulty test. Once they figured out what the problem was they went back and fixed it. Which is why it's 6 weeks late from the original release date.
And so what, the CDC (the smarmy little kid in the back of the room, grins) got it right this time around. I don't think the CDC wants to be left out of XMRV research, too much money coming down that pike, they just don't want to find it in CFS. (grins) But I have to say thanks for whipping up an accurate serology test.
Not to worry because all of these groups will patent their revised tests and market them.