Hey Everyone,
What a privilege it is to be able to have such informed and intelligent conversations about these developments! I am particularly grateful for the presence of those with kids on the spectrum and/or knowledge about autism as I believe/hope that this is also a breakthrough for that tragic condition. I do not think it's a coincidence that so many of us have kids on the spectrum or that, seemingly, the rates of both ME/CFS and Autism have risen so dramatically in concert.
I was a Child Care Worker in my first career, the one I had just before getting sick. For a while, I worked with a little boy with autism who was sent to school each day caked in feces and the first thing I would do was wash him. Saliva was not the only bodily "fluid" mentioned by Dr Mikovits. For me, this is interesting but far from the only mode of transmission I suspect. I was born in a hospital 1 month to the day following an outbreak among the nursing students; I worked in the schools for years; I had a brief affair with a man who later died of very aggressive prostate cancer; I moved in with a cat just weeks before getting ill; I suspect my paternal aunt, who died of cancer, had ME/CFS and my father died of very aggressive prostate cancer - approx. a mo. from diagnosis to death. Should XMRV prove to be our HIV, I could have gotten it any of these ways or in some other way which I will never know.
I do know that, touch wood, I do not seem to have given it to anyone with whom I have been intimately involved. I know people who are HIV pos. and their partners remain HIV neg. No virus is always transmitted by a known route unless it's a vaccination. There is always an element of luck involved. We don't know anything yet.
Thanks again, everyone for being so smart and writing so well! When I was computerless I discovered that the whole world is not hanging on this the way we are. As others have commented, it has been under the radar of most people thus far. We are so lucky to have this community to process this with! I'm not afraid of being shunned. I have you guys.
Peace out,
Koan