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XMRV--What if the Culture Tests Were Wrong but the Antibody Test Was Correct

Mya Symons

Mya Symons

Mya Symons
Messages
1,029
Location
Washington
Is it possible that Whittmore Peterson picked up contamination in the blood culture tests, but the antibody test for XMRV was correct? Maybe it is not possible to find in the blood, but XMRV does exist in the tissue and the only way to find it is through tissue biopsies. A retrovirus fits so well with the symptoms of ME. Maybe they stumbled onto this virus because of contamination. Hence all the confusion.

Is this too far fetched or could this be possible?
 
ixchelkali

ixchelkali

Senior Member
Messages
1,107
Location
Long Beach, CA
I would say that based on what happened with the macaque monkeys, that the virus disappeared from the blood but remained in many tissues, it's possible. However, the entire evidence of a correlation with ME/CFS was based on blood studies. To find out if XMRV exists in the tissues of ME/CFS patients at a significantly higher rate than healthy controls would mean basically going back to square one. That is, you'd have to find evidence of a correlation, and then that study would have to be replicated.
 
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