I participated today in a webinar from the CFIDS Association of America. The topic was XMRV. The details about the lecture can be found here. The slides from the discussion can be found here.
They key takeaways for me were:
- Very little is known yet as to whether XMRV is causal or opportunistic
- No effective treatments have been identified in humans; some research work may be in progress but human studies have not been done
- The virus is contagious but it is not known what the mechanisms of transmission are. There was discussion that there is not yet suggestion of sexual transmission but that vertical transmission from mother to unborn child may be possible
- There was mention that the tests for XMRV are still evolving and that VIP Labs does currently offer a test. Not discussed on the webinar but a separate sidenote is that Clongen labs is also now doing testing for XMRV as I understand.
- There was a very interesting graph showing cytokines and other markers after exercise in people with CFS. This may have been one of the more interesting parts of the discussion.
My own thoughts:
- Whether or not XMRV emerges as a major play remains unseen
- Whether or not treating it results in improvement in symptoms is unknown
- My thought is that the majority of those with chronic Lyme disease will test positive for XMRV but what that really means is not clear at this time
