Highly Anticipated Study Is Second to Link Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Retrovirus
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/727496
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/727496
"The authors of a new study that found a strong association between chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and a group of mouse retroviruses closely related to XMRV, or xenotropic murine leukemia virus–related virus, offered possible explanations for the varying results among different research laboratories in Europe and the United States.
The research team did prove that MLV infection persists. As a follow-up to using frozen blood samples obtained from patients with CFS nearly 15 years ago, the investigators obtained fresh blood samples from 8 of the 32 MLV-positive patients, and 7 again tested positive for the retrovirus. "It was the same virus, but it had mutated, as a retrovirus does," Dr. Alter said.
Virus sequences seen in their patient samples were polytropic, not xenotropic, and were more diverse than those reported by the Nevada group, according to Dr. Alter. This variability is characteristic of a retrovirus and boosted the authors' confidence that laboratory contamination was not responsible for their findings, he said during the media briefing."
Virus sequences seen in their patient samples were polytropic, not xenotropic, and were more diverse than those reported by the Nevada group, according to Dr. Alter. This variability is characteristic of a retrovirus and boosted the authors' confidence that laboratory contamination was not responsible for their findings, he said during the media briefing."
