Were the samples from the Wellcombe Trust contaminated?

By: JT :

This research does not show that XMRV, or more importantly MLV related retroviruses, are not the cause of ME. It does indicate that those researchers (from the Wellcombe Trust) contaminated their samples with a mouse retrovirus. Only further research will answer the question that the Wellcombe Trust Sanger Institute seems to believe is over. In short, they are exaggerating their studies results and abilities.

This study does not explain why those finding the virus in patients get such largely differing results to controls. It also does not explain the immune response that the other researchers are finding. It does not explain why the labs finding the retrovirus in ME patients are unable to detect a mouse contaminant, nor why the CDC could not detect a mouse contaminant from the 20 WPI samples they tested. Nor why the CDC could find XMRV in the Phase IIa of the blood working group study, or why the WPI and NCI have the same results for serology in Phase IIb.