I read paper and I can't tell if they used the WPI method. If not, this shows that other methods can work.
I think no one said other methods can't work - but people said that in order to show that there is no XMRV in, let's say, europe, you have to use a method that was proven to be able to find XMRV (to exaggerate: Let's say I tell you that if you spill cola on XMRV there would be a huge explosion, and you spill cola on blood samples of ME/CFS patients and nothing happens. Does that tell you that there is no XMRV in those ME/CFS patient's samples, or does that tell you that the method you used sucks?).
Now, regarding the finding here, it's very scary. My questions to the scientists here are:
1) if I sneeze or breath on someone, could I infect him?!
2) Did I understand correctly, that the authors say that HIV-1 is also found in respiratory secretions but it cannot infect people (I've heard that you need to transsmit 3 liters, or something like that, of saliva in order to infect someone with HIV with your saliva)? And, especially since XMRV is a simple retrovirus, what is the chance that even if it's in the respiratory secretions it would not infect people?
That's a good finding and it's also good that it was found in Germany, because it might put an end to the "not in europe" argument about XMRV. But it's also a very scary finding.
My fear is that if I would be found to have XMRV I wouldn't be able to even get close to people, not to mention kissing, having sex etc.