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closeA note on the European CFS/XMRV studies
Posted by heinrichvs on 28 Apr 2010 at 14:33 GMT
Additionally, several studies have failed to detect XMRV in different European cohorts of patients with either prostate cancer [8] or with chronic fatigue syndrome [9], [10], [11], suggesting that either population differences or environmental factors may modulate the incidence of XMRV infections.
http://plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0010255#article1.body1.sec1.p1
The study of which Simon Wessely was a part, "Failure to Detect the Novel Retrovirus XMRV in Chronic Fatigue Syndrome," doesn't support the conclusion that "either population differences or environmental factors may modulate the incidence of XMRV infections." Prof. Wessely, a psychiatrist, helped screen the patient subjects for the study; in so doing he screened, in the study's own words, "to exclude detectable organic illness." ME/CFS patients are riddled with organic illness due to some underlying primary infection or immune dysfunction. Also, subjects were screened according to the CDC definition of ME/CFS, which the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Council to the US federal government rejects as being too "catch-all" with the consequence that it includes individuals with primarily a psychological disorder and those with a wide range of problems not specific to this particular disease.
RE: A note on the European CFS/XMRV studies
schow replied to heinrichvs on 28 Apr 2010 at 16:47 GMT
The statement that "either population differences or environmental factors..." does not refer to patient screening. In terms of population differences, I meant the possible difference in the genetic makeup of the subjects in the European studies versus those in the U.S. For example, there is a natural mutation in the CCR5 gene that confers protection against HIV-1 infection. The percentage of population with such a mutation is much higher in individuals from the European descent than other ethnic groups. In terms of environmental factors, I meant differences in diverse factors such as geographical locations, diet, air quality, drinking water, etc., between Europe and the U.S. that may contribute to differences in infection incidence. For example, HIV-2 is much more prevalent in parts of Africa than the rest of the world, and hepatitis A is more prevalent in China, Africa, S. America than the U.S.
RE: RE: A note on the European CFS/XMRV studies
heinrichvs replied to schow on 02 May 2010 at 15:23 GMT
Indeed, but a far more _simple_ explanation than the genetic or geographical ones that you consider is that Dr. Wessely screened out individuals with infections--something that the Wessely et al paper makes pretty clear. That is not to impugn the integrity of Dr. Wessely, rather it's an acknowledgment that he is fully convinced that ME patients manifest illness symptoms without an underlying infectious agent.