I e-mailed Dr. Racaniello yesterday to see if he could provide some perspective on the importance of the recent German study finding XMRV in the respiratory tract. Specifically, I wanted to know about the concerns surrounding transmissibility.
He responded today by posting on his blog about the study. My read is that the HIV data he presents (in a linked table) would suggest that there are key questions (such as the level of the virus in the respiratory tract) that we simply do not have data to answer at present BUT the HIV data would suggest that detecting XMRV is, on its own, not sufficient to infer transmissibility via this route.
My sincere thanks to Dr. Racaniello.
He responded today by posting on his blog about the study. My read is that the HIV data he presents (in a linked table) would suggest that there are key questions (such as the level of the virus in the respiratory tract) that we simply do not have data to answer at present BUT the HIV data would suggest that detecting XMRV is, on its own, not sufficient to infer transmissibility via this route.
Here's the link to the VirologyBlog article: http://www.virology.ws/2010/05/19/xmrv-in-human-respiratory-tract/Does finding XMRV in the respiratory tract prove that the virus can be transmitted by the respiratory route? No, not until we have other information, including the level of virus in respiratory secretions, and the infectivity of XMRV. In this context it is interesting to note that it was not possible to isolate infectious XMRV from the respiratory tract of the German patients.
My sincere thanks to Dr. Racaniello.