Friday, December 3, 2010

Are 10 Million Americans Infected With XMRV?

By Amy Dockser Marcus, (Wall Street Journal)

Scientists are racing to develop tests for a retrovirus called XMRV, which could be used to determine if the blood supply is tainted and to assess how many people may be infected.

The impetus behind the drive is a paper published in the journal Science last year that reported a link between XMRV and chronic fatigue syndrome. Public health officials were alarmed that close to 4% of healthy people used as controls in the study were infected with XMRV. That could mean as many as 10 million Americans are infected.

XMRV has gotten a lot of attention because, like HIV, it is a retrovirus. This means ... Read more>>

No comments:

LinkWithin

Related Posts with Thumbnails