As readers of this blog know, Amy Dockser Marcus has been all over the XMRV story, writing just last week about a study attempting to settle the question of whether the retrovirus is linked to chronic fatigue syndrome.
Today she writes in the WSJ about the push to develop tests to detect XMRV in the blood supply and to assess infection rates. On the government side, the CDC and National Cancer Institute are pursuing a test. So are Abbott, Gen-Probe and Roche, she reports.
Studies looking at the connection between XMRV and CFS have been conflicting. Research published in Science last year suggested a link, but some other scientists weren’t able to duplicate that finding.
Meantime, out of caution, an association of facilities that collect most of the U.S. blood supply this summer advised CFS patients not to donate blood.
It’s been difficult to reach consensus on identifying the virus in blood samples, so some researchers are turning to animal studies to confirm samples are infected, Dockser Marcus reports today. Others are using blood from chronic fatigue patients to develop their tests. One adapted a test used to detect HIV. Gen-Probe’s test looks for genetic material of XMRV in the blood.
The next step, Dockser Marcus writes, is to assess these tests outside of the research setting, with protocols for processing and handling blood.
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