By Lenita Powers - lpowers@rgj.com - December 29, 2009
http://www.rgj.com/article/20091229/NEWS/91229051/1321
The story in 2009: A team of researchers of the Whittemore-Peterson
Institute at the University of Nevada, Reno discovered a new =93bug=94
that can be transmitted via blood and other human fluids.
Judy Mikovits and Vince Lombardi, the institute=92s two lead
researchers, discovered a link between a new infectious human
retrovirus dubbed XMRV and people who have Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.
Why it matters: The discovery of XMRV could provide doctors with the
means to actually diagnose patients as having Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome, a mysterious illness which has multiple symptoms and now is
diagnosed by eliminating possible other causes. Finding the retrovirus
in patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome also could lead to the
development of drugs to treat it and other neuroimmune diseases.
=93We=92re very hopeful that within the year, we will begin to see
clinical drug trials for XMRV-related diseases such as Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome, fibromyalgia and many other unknown diseases,=94 said Annette
Whittemore, founder and president of the Whittemore-Peterson
Institute.
What the skeptics say: Although the Reno researchers=92 discovery
underwent strenuous peer review before their study was published in
the world renown scientific journal Science in October, protocol
requires their findings be duplicated by other independent studies.
=93We are continuing to work with the National Cancer Institute and many
other individual researchers,=94 Whittemore said. =93We also are doing
confirmation studies of additional Chronic Fatigue Syndrome patients
with other countries, including Sweden, Norway and the United Kingdom,
as well as many scientists across the United States.=94
The Whittemore-Peterson Institute=92s study that found the new human
retrovirus was listed as one of the top 100 scientific discoveries in
2009 in Discovery magazine=92s January issue.
What=92s ahead in 2010: Pharmaceutical companies are working to develop
drugs that could be used to treat Chronic Fatigue Syndrome sufferers,
and clinical drug trials could begin within the year, Whittemore said.
She said the federal government is giving the National Cancer
Institute funding to conduct further research into the human
retrovirus. Whittemore hopes such funding eventually will be extended
to private institutions.
=93We were told back in Washington, D.C., it could take up to five years
before that kind of public funding becomes available because this is a
new area of research,=94 she said.
=93We=92re hopeful that situation will change and the Obama administration
will make this research a priority. Then the Whittemore-Peterson
Institute could begin to make an application for the funding in 2010.=94
Mikovits has become a member of a national group trying to develop a
standardized blood test to be used by all government agencies in the
United States to detect XMRV to protect the national blood supply,
Whittemore said.
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