Dx Revision Watch
Suzy Chapman Owner of Dx Revision Watch
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New Scientist 06 January 2010
(I'll take this off if it's already been posted - getting kinda hard to keep up.)
Source: New Scientist
Date: January 6, 2010
Authors: Clare Wilson and Ewen Callaway
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18341-cfs-patients-in-uk-show-no-signs-of-suspect-virus.html
CFS patients in UK show no signs of suspect virus
The theory that chronic fatigue syndrome could be caused by a
virus that jumped from mice to people has been dealt a blow by a
British study that has found no evidence of the virus in people
diagnosed with CFS. Scientists are also warning people with the
condition of the dangers of dosing themselves with antiretroviral
drugs.
CFS affects more than a million people in the US and a quarter
of a million in the UK. Its symptoms include persistent, severe
tiredness, but its cause remains mysterious and contentious.
The debate on its origins took a new twist in October, when DNA
from xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) was
found in the blood of about two-thirds of 101 people with CFS,
compared with just 4 per cent of healthy people. The researchers,
led by Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno,
Nevada, suggested that XMRV might be causing CFS.
Missing virus
Now a second study, led by Myra McClure of Imperial College London,
has failed to find XMRV in blood samples from 186 people in the UK
with CFS. "We do not share the conviction that XMRV may be a
contributory factor in the pathogenesis of CFS, at least in the
UK," McClure's team says.
XMRV is a retrovirus, and viruses of this type have a history of
claims linking them to diseases, which have later been questioned
- about 25 at the last count.
Mikovits stands by the conclusions in her paper. She suggests that
XMRV may be less common in Europe and so might not be causing cases
of CFS there.
At least one US lab is offering to test people with CFS for XMRV,
while websites are abuzz with reports from patients who say they
have been tested and queries about how to obtain zidovudine (AZT),
the antiretroviral drug used to combat HIV.
Health warnings
"These are folks who've just gone and had the test done in a private
lab," says Charles Shepherd, medical adviser to the ME Association
in the UK, which provides support to people with CFS.
In lab experiments reported last month, AZT was found to block
replication of XMRV. But Richard Baker, head of the group that wrote
the official UK guidelines on CFS, warns patients against taking AZT,
which can have side effects. "Anyone who uses it on themselves is
taking a real risk with their health," he says. Mikovits says it is
unlikely to be effective against CFS.
Negative hints
Other researchers are trying to further establish whether there is a
link between XMRV and CFS, but have not yet published the results.
There are hints that these results may also be negative.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, Germany, is also examining
the link between XMRV and CFS. In November, its collaborators posted
a short statement on the web saying that CFS patients had so far
"rarely" tested positive for the virus. They later removed the
statement.
According to Norbert Bannert, one of the virologists at the RKI, the
statement was correct, but he adds: "It's not fair to give numbers when
you're at the beginning of the investigation, and the first results
have not yet been confirmed by an alternative test." He declines to
give further details. McClure has also hinted that several studies due
to be published soon have also found no link.
People with CFS who say they have been tested are less restrained.
On one online message board, a handful of people have reported mixed
results: none of 10 patients who used one company's test said they
turned up positive for the virus, while six out of 12 people who took
another set of tests offered by another lab said they were positive
for XMRV.
If the virus link is not borne out, people with CFS are going to feel
seriously disappointed, Shepherd warns. "I think people are going to
feel very, very let down to put it mildly," he says.
--------
(c) 2010 Reed Business Information Ltd.
(I'll take this off if it's already been posted - getting kinda hard to keep up.)
Source: New Scientist
Date: January 6, 2010
Authors: Clare Wilson and Ewen Callaway
URL: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn18341-cfs-patients-in-uk-show-no-signs-of-suspect-virus.html
CFS patients in UK show no signs of suspect virus
The theory that chronic fatigue syndrome could be caused by a
virus that jumped from mice to people has been dealt a blow by a
British study that has found no evidence of the virus in people
diagnosed with CFS. Scientists are also warning people with the
condition of the dangers of dosing themselves with antiretroviral
drugs.
CFS affects more than a million people in the US and a quarter
of a million in the UK. Its symptoms include persistent, severe
tiredness, but its cause remains mysterious and contentious.
The debate on its origins took a new twist in October, when DNA
from xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus (XMRV) was
found in the blood of about two-thirds of 101 people with CFS,
compared with just 4 per cent of healthy people. The researchers,
led by Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute in Reno,
Nevada, suggested that XMRV might be causing CFS.
Missing virus
Now a second study, led by Myra McClure of Imperial College London,
has failed to find XMRV in blood samples from 186 people in the UK
with CFS. "We do not share the conviction that XMRV may be a
contributory factor in the pathogenesis of CFS, at least in the
UK," McClure's team says.
XMRV is a retrovirus, and viruses of this type have a history of
claims linking them to diseases, which have later been questioned
- about 25 at the last count.
Mikovits stands by the conclusions in her paper. She suggests that
XMRV may be less common in Europe and so might not be causing cases
of CFS there.
At least one US lab is offering to test people with CFS for XMRV,
while websites are abuzz with reports from patients who say they
have been tested and queries about how to obtain zidovudine (AZT),
the antiretroviral drug used to combat HIV.
Health warnings
"These are folks who've just gone and had the test done in a private
lab," says Charles Shepherd, medical adviser to the ME Association
in the UK, which provides support to people with CFS.
In lab experiments reported last month, AZT was found to block
replication of XMRV. But Richard Baker, head of the group that wrote
the official UK guidelines on CFS, warns patients against taking AZT,
which can have side effects. "Anyone who uses it on themselves is
taking a real risk with their health," he says. Mikovits says it is
unlikely to be effective against CFS.
Negative hints
Other researchers are trying to further establish whether there is a
link between XMRV and CFS, but have not yet published the results.
There are hints that these results may also be negative.
The Robert Koch Institute (RKI) in Berlin, Germany, is also examining
the link between XMRV and CFS. In November, its collaborators posted
a short statement on the web saying that CFS patients had so far
"rarely" tested positive for the virus. They later removed the
statement.
According to Norbert Bannert, one of the virologists at the RKI, the
statement was correct, but he adds: "It's not fair to give numbers when
you're at the beginning of the investigation, and the first results
have not yet been confirmed by an alternative test." He declines to
give further details. McClure has also hinted that several studies due
to be published soon have also found no link.
People with CFS who say they have been tested are less restrained.
On one online message board, a handful of people have reported mixed
results: none of 10 patients who used one company's test said they
turned up positive for the virus, while six out of 12 people who took
another set of tests offered by another lab said they were positive
for XMRV.
If the virus link is not borne out, people with CFS are going to feel
seriously disappointed, Shepherd warns. "I think people are going to
feel very, very let down to put it mildly," he says.
--------
(c) 2010 Reed Business Information Ltd.
