Re: XMRV: Red Cross Testing the Blood Supply

[Guest guest]

Fantastic article...I¹m encouraged to see this study happening... clearly,

some people/organizations are taking XMRV very seriously.

Here¹s the link...

http://blogs.wsj.com/health/2011/01/20/xmrv-testing-the-blood-supply/

....and here¹s a portion of the article...

³One study will involve collecting donations from over 10,000 healthy people

in six different geographic areas to look for evidence of XMRV or related

viruses called murine leukemia viruses (MLVs), either through the detection

of antibodies or the presence of small amounts of viral RNA. The tests will

be run by Gen-Probe and Abbott Laboratories, two companies that have been

developing tests for XMRV and MLVs. Sample collection will start soon.

The second study involves a linked donor-recipient blood repository that the

Red Cross maintains. The group will be looking at 120 recipients who got

blood from over 4,000 donors. Donors will be tested to see if they are

positive for XMRV or MLVs, and then recipients will be tested to see if

there was transmission of the virus through transfusions. The donor samples

were collected in Connecticut. The study is being done in collaboration with

the Yale-New Haven Hospital and is in the planning stages right now, Stramer

says.²

Enjoy!

Caroline G.