Retrovirus Linked To CFS/ME

I woke up today, turned on NPR, and learned the world has changed. There was that little thing about Obama getting the Noble Prize. But there was also something closer to home.

This NPR report, featuring the long-maligned Dr. Peterson (who called attention to the first identified outbreak many very long years ago) brought an entirely new concept to my understanding of CFS ... hope. As in maybe there is some!

Here's another NPR report that I missed yesterday.

It never once occurred to me I'd live long enough to read something like this in the NYT:

Continuing work after the paper was published has found the virus in nearly 98 percent of about 300 patients with the syndrome, said Dr. Judy A. Mikovits, the lead author of the paper.

XMRV is a retrovirus, a member of the same family of viruses as the AIDS virus. These viruses carry their genetic information in RNA rather than DNA, and they insert themselves into their hosts’ genetic material and stay for life.

Dr. Mikovits and other scientists cautioned that they had not yet proved that the virus causes the syndrome. In theory, people with the syndrome may have some other, underlying health problem that makes them prone to being infected by the virus, which could be just a bystander. More studies are needed to explain the connection.

But Dr. Mikovits said she thought the virus would turn out to be the cause, not just of chronic fatigue, but of other illnesses as well. Previous studies have found it in cells taken from prostate cancers.

Blimey!

NPR, the BBC, the Wall Street Journal, NYT, US News and World Report, and at this moment, 57 articles in major international media. HOLY MOLY!!! Suddenly, overnight, we are now to think this is an actual real illness!! Amazing how the whole world can change with the publication of one article in one magazine! If it's worth $15 to you, you can download the article published Thursday by AAAS in its online journal, "Science." To whet your appetite, here's the summary:

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is a debilitating disease of unknown etiology that is estimated to affect 17 million people worldwide. Studying peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from CFS patients, we identified DNA from a human gammaretrovirus, xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV), in 68 of 101 patients (67%) compared to 8 of 218 (3.7%) healthy controls. Cell culture experiments revealed that patient-derived XMRV is infectious and that both cell-associated and cell-free transmission of the virus are possible. Secondary viral infections were established in uninfected primary lymphocytes and indicator cell lines following exposure to activated PBMCs, B cells, T cells, or plasma derived from CFS patients. These findings raise the possibility that XMRV may be a contributing factor in the pathogenesis of CFS.

Do they do prose, or what?