XMRV. One virus or more subtypes??

[Solon]

I think soon XMRV 1 and 2 and probably 3 and more will be discovered and differentiated. Its impossible that all those different CFS immune profiles (low NK cells in some, low CD4 in otheres, low CD8, low monocytes or combinations of those etc etc) are brought about by a single XMRV agent- unless the persons immune response is so variable (hmm doubt it too, since whole families exhibit similar profiles).
Unless the co-infection with EBV,CMV, HHV6, enteroviruses, and other common pathogens changes the picture so much (which could be possible with current research) but deeply inside i think there has to be some more similar gamma-retroviral agent(s) that play a role. We just have to wait for it to get discovered. HepatitisA-E, Hiv1-2-0, HTLV1-2, Herpes1-8 are typical examples of multiple viral pathogens causing in most cases similar disease or not??

Can history be proven wrong in this case?? Time will tell i guess

 

[Summer]

Think of polio and all the presentations. The same with HIV, or even the flu. No one with any disease presents exactly the same. The researchers have been pretty clear they are finding XMRV without what might be called classic immune findings in many XMRV/CFS patients, but they have XMRV.

 

[Solon]

You think one and only XRMV type then?? That would be the most optimal ..

 

[Summer]

You think one and only XRMV type then?? That would be the most optimal ..

See this article:

Is a Virus the Cause of Fatigue Syndrome?

Dr. Mikovits and researchers from the National Cancer Institute and the Cleveland Clinic reported in Science that 68 of 101 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome, or 67 percent, were infected with XMRV, compared with only 3.7 percent of 218 healthy control subjects. Further testing after the paper was written found the virus in nearly 98 percent of about 300 patients with the syndrome, Dr. Mikovits said.

She said she believed that the virus would eventually be found in every patient with chronic fatigue syndrome.

 

[Mark]

I think it's perfectly plausible that XMRV can cause widely differing effects in different people, without needing multiple variants of XMRV to explain those differences. In my case, my main immune dysfunctions are extreme amplifications of allergies that I know run in my family already. So XMRV might undermine the immune system in general, and the way that plays out depends on your individual immune profile (which would be genetically linked so would explain the similar symptoms in family groups).

Also, XMRV can infect a wide variety of cells, and I think somebody at the CFSAC meeting asserted that it might spread to the heart after a few years, then a few years later to the brain, etc. So there may be an element of chance as to which systems happen to be infected with XMRV, and therefore different symptoms result.

That said, I also think it's likely that there will indeed turn out to be other variants of XMRV out there, and indeed other infectious retroviruses that are spreading and causing either CFS-related symptoms or other illnesses. That's why I think it's so important that when the dust settles and we find out who's X+ and who's X-, we all take very seriously the possibility that the X- PWCs have another retrovirus that hasn't been found yet. For me the big aim for society to get out of all this is: more openness from science and medicine to the idea that there are many things they do not yet know, and therefore much more compassion for those whose chronic illnesses remain explained.