Friday, January 21, 2011

XMRV: The retrovirus you'll be hearing more about.

It's like a best daydream, and worst nightmare, all rolled into one.  The daydream is that the cause of ME/CFS (myalgic encephalomyelitis / chronic fatigue syndrome) would be found, the nightmare is that the ramifications of the discovery boggle the mind.

In the October 8th, 2010 issue of the journal Science, the Whittemore Peterson Institute published their discovery of a link between the retrovirus XMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus) and the neuro-immune disease, ME/CFS.

http://www.wpinstitute.org/xmrv/docs/wpi_pressrel_100809.pdf

That's the daydream - finding a virus that could very well be the cause of ME/CFS.  The nightmare begins with the list of other diseases that seem to be related to this same virus....prostate cancer, multiple sclerosis, Lyme disease, certain types of lymphomas, breast cancer, Gulf War Illness, autism....

This is a potential public health crisis, and there are many questions that need to be answered, and answered fast.  Does XMRV cause disease?  If so, which ones?  How is it transmitted?  How prevalent is it in the healthy population?  What are the possible treatments available now?  How quickly can new treatments, aimed specifically at XMRV, be made available?

ME/CFS has been left unchecked for over 25 years, allowed to spread until millions of people all over the world are ill.  Now is the time to put serious money into the research.  We need to get those questions answered!

Donations to the Whittemore Peterson Institute maybe be made here:

http://www.wpinstitute.org/help/help_donation.html


Links to more info:

blood donor bans:
http://mcwpa.org/in-the-news/blood-donor-bans/

XMRV and leukemia/lymphoma:
http://www.wpinstitute.org/news/docs/Snyderman_XMRV.pdf

XMRV and prostate cancer:
http://www.plospathogens.org/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1371%2Fjournal.ppat.0020025

13 comments:

  1. Hi, welcome to Blogorama! Please put up a link to rescindinc.org.
    we are an old site that is trying to start up again. thanks!
    TMH

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  2. Well done for spreading the word!

    I LOVE the name and description of your blogs...so cool! :D C.x

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  3. If the retrovirus ends up being the cause, then WPI scientists deserve the Nobel Prize.

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  4. Thank you for helping tell the world about XMRV and the need for further ME/CFS research and funding!

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  5. Excellent. As a sufferer myself I am so thankful for your blog to spread awareness. With further research, may there be a cure for us all sooner rather than later!! Blessings

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  6. Nice headline!
    "XMRV: The retrovirus you'll be hearing more about"
    With Authority!
    Good on you and thanks for all the info.

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  7. Excellent info. I think everybody should be interested in research in XMRV. Newest research by the WPI suggests, that it may be linked to Autism and not only to CFS/ME. There must be so many people out there, who suffer because of XMRV. Take Action!

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  8. Well done Kari It's time the blinkers were taken off and our Health Authorities opened their minds to what is going on.

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  9. Thank you everyone, for your encouragement and kind words!

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  10. Who would have thought there is a connection between prostate cancer and ME/CFS?

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  11. Right Tina, so strange. And my dad took care of me when I first got sick, and was bedridden. Later he developed prostate cancer. I sure never thought there might be a connection, until XMRV came along!

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  12. Hey Kari, so great to see you blogging & love the name!
    "the nightmare is that the ramifications of the discovery boggle the mind" - so true, as if our minds weren't boggled enough! Boggle has just became my new favourite word! I hope you keep blogging my friend! Much love x

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  13. Thanks so much, Vikki! Here's hoping that, in the coming year, our minds are boggled by the progress made! :)

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