Blood Supply Controversy
Transmission of XMRV to or between humans has not been documented. Speculated modes of transmission include sexual and airborne routes, but the mode of human transmission, if any, has not yet been investigated. A study in the Netherlands found no XMRV in the semen of HIV-positive men. Both cell-associated and cell-free transmission have been reported in vitro. XMRV is closely related to several known xenotropic mouse viruses. These viruses recognize and enter cells of non-rodent species by means of the cell-surface xenotropic and polytropic murine leukemia virus receptor (XPR1).
Judy Mikovits of the Whittemore Peterson Institute has stated that XMRV has "almost certainly entered the U.S. blood supply system, but did not know whether it would be susceptible to the same heat treatments that successfully kill off the AIDS virus in blood products." Only fractionated plasma is heat treated, blood for transfusion is not. A United States federal consortium is now working to determine the prevalence of XMRV in the blood supply and the suitability of different detection methods. The preliminary phase of this project yielded inconclusive data. Although four patients tested positive at two of the sites, no patient was positive after repeated testing.
The association of XMRV and CFS reported in Science prompted Health Canada, the New Zealand Blood Service, the Australian Red Cross Blood Service, and the American Red Cross in 2010, to disallow blood donations from individuals with CFS. On June 18, 2010, the American Association of Blood Banks, recommended actively discouraging potential donors who have been diagnosed by a physician as having CFS from donating blood or blood components. As of November 1, 2010, people with CFS are no longer able to donate blood in the UK.
Writing in Cell Host & Microbe, retrovirologists Mark Wainberg and Kuan-Teh Jeang argue that a "scrupulously cautious" risk-benefit analysis is needed to assess the benefits and costs of testing or discarding blood on the basis of XMRV-positive results, taking into account the fact that some individuals and companies could profit from mandatory testing. They draw a parallel with the recent MMR-autism scare, in which conflicts of interest played a role.
Read more about this topic: Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-related Virus
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