http://www.facebook.com/note.php?note_id=3D197188195538&ref=3Dmf
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'XMRV Blood Safety and Availability from HHS'
Xenotropic Murine LeukemiaVirus-Related Virus (XMRV)
Blood Safety and Availability
Office of Public Health and Science
Department of Health and Human Services (HHS)
Jerry A. Holmberg, PhD, SBB
October 30, 2009
The Office of Public Health and Science=92s Blood Safety and
Availability is aware of the recent literature suggesting linkage of
chronic fatigue syndrome to a possible contagious rodent retrovirus,
XMRV. XMRV has also been associated with an aggressive form of
prostate cancer. Antibodies against the virus have been detected in
3.7% of healthy controls in a study of a small number of individuals.
Currently there is no commercially available test for infection with
XMRV. While there is no known association of CFS or prostate cancer
with history of transfusion, the finding that the virus is associated
with white blood cells has led some to question whether XMRV could be
transmitted by transfusion and might therefore pose a threat to the
health of blood recipients and potentially also transplant recipients.
The HHS Blood Safety Committee works with all the PHS agencies (i.e.,
CDC, FDA, HRSA, and NIH) to ensure the safety and availability of
blood products as well as transplantation safety. Under the leadership
of that committee, steps are being taken to investigate the blood
safety threat from XMRV and the potentially protective role of white
cell removal, which is performed on approximately 70% of blood. An
interagency Emerging Infectious Diseases working group that reports to
the Blood Safety Committee is currently assessing the literature on
XMRV, conducting meetings with experts on this retrovirus, and
interacting with groups that could study the question of blood safety.
A report is expected within several weeks. In particular, the National
Heart Lung and Blood Institute Retrovirus Epidemiology Donor Study-II
(REDS-II) investigators are aware of the report in Science and are
assessing the prevalence of XMRV in blood donors to determine whether
studies aimed at evaluating transfusion-transmission rate are
warranted using NHLBI=92s repositories of donor and recipient blood
samples.
HHS will remain vigilant in assessing the safety of the blood supply
and developing interventions as appropriate.
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Links to Other Federal Guidelines
National Cancer Institute Interim Guidelines on XMRV:
http://www.cfids.org/temp/xmrv-guidelines-nci.asp
NIH Fact Sheet on Transfusion Safety (general):
http://www.nih.gov/about/researchresultsforthepublic/Transfusion.pdf
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