Brooks, James, Lycett-Lambert, Karly, Caminiti, Kyna et al. · Transfusion · 2012 · DOI
Researchers tested 43 people who work closely with mice to see if they had been infected with mouse viruses (XMRV and MLV) that some scientists had previously linked to ME/CFS. Using blood tests and genetic analysis, they found no evidence that these viruses had jumped from mice to humans, even among workers with high exposure.
Early hypotheses linked XMRV and MLVs to ME/CFS, raising concerns about blood supply safety and disease etiology. This study's negative findings in a high-exposure population help establish that mouse-to-human retroviral transmission is rare, contributing to the resolution of the XMRV hypothesis that dominated ME/CFS research in the early 2010s.
This study does not prove that retroviruses play no role in ME/CFS—it only demonstrates that laboratory animal workers are not commonly infected with mouse retroviruses. It also does not address whether other retroviral species or non-occupational transmission routes might be relevant to ME/CFS pathogenesis.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
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