XMRV linked to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

[Guest guest]

This is interesting, especially the last line.

From

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g7NceWUe3azfALQd57xz8WEMnPbwD9\

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B74L1O4

Study links virus to chronic fatigue syndrome

(AP) – 2 hours ago

WASHINGTON — A virus recently linked to prostate cancer is a new suspect in

chronic fatigue syndrome. Scientists tested blood from 101 patients and found

two-thirds carried it.

That doesn't mean the virus causes chronic fatigue, stressed the research

published Thursday in the journal Science.

The team of scientists from the National Cancer Institute and Nevada's

Whittemore Institute said it was possible the virus, named XMRV, was

just " a passenger virus " that catches a ride in patients whose immune systems

are weakened by chronic fatigue.

Moreover, the researchers found nearly 4 percent of healthy people carried the

virus, too. That raises bigger questions about just what role this recently

discovered virus — a relative of viruses that cause cancer in mice — may be

playing in overall health.

" This suggests that several million Americans may be infected with a retrovirus

of as-yet-unknown pathogenic potential, " the researchers concluded.

A retrovirus is a kind of virus that permanently embeds in the body.

Various viruses have been linked to chronic fatigue over the years, only to fall

by the wayside as potential culprits in the mysterious illness thought to

afflict about 1 million Americans. It's characterized by at least six months of

severe fatigue, impaired memory and other symptoms, but there's no test for it —

doctors rule out other possible causes — and no specific treatment.

The XMRV virus is related to mouse leukemia viruses. No one knows how it arose

or how people become infected. But another research team recently found the

virus lurking in about a quarter of 200 prostate tumors — and in about 6 percent

of noncancerous prostate samples they used for comparison.

" There is still much that we do not understand, " including whether people with

either disease just are more prone to infection, cautioned Tufts University

microbiologist Coffin in an accompanying editorial. Still, " further study

may reveal XMRV as a cause of more than one well-known 'old' disease. "

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Other articles I've read today mention that this family of retroviruses has

known neurological implications. I suspect it is even possible that such a

virus was even present in vaccines as only known viruses would be screened out

during processing.

Here's a more detailed account from NIH.

http://www.nih.gov/news/health/oct2009/nci-08.htm

Also, HHV-6 has been linked to CFS. See a well documented article at

http://www.plazamedicine.com/hhv6/hhv6_1.html

Vance