Schüttrumpf, Jörg, Hourfar, M Kai, Alesci, Sonja et al. · Transfusion medicine and hemotherapy : offizielles Organ der Deutschen Gesellschaft fur Transfusionsmedizin und Immunhamatologie · 2013 · DOI
Researchers tested whether XMRV, a virus that had been suggested as a possible cause of ME/CFS, was present in the blood of people with hemophilia who received frequent blood products. Using sensitive testing methods, they found no trace of XMRV in any of the 127 people tested, even in those who had received many blood transfusions and factor treatments over time.
This study is relevant to ME/CFS research because XMRV was initially proposed as a potential infectious cause of ME/CFS. Testing a highly exposed population (hemophilia patients with frequent blood product exposure) provides evidence about whether XMRV might circulate in blood and cause disease, informing the broader investigation of viral triggers in ME/CFS.
This study does not prove that XMRV never exists in any human population, nor does it establish whether XMRV was actually responsible for any of the initial positive findings reported in ME/CFS studies. The absence of XMRV in hemophiliacs does not rule out its presence in other populations or its role in ME/CFS in those groups.
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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