Virus once linked to chronic fatigue a false alarm
Posted Sep 23, 2011 06:43:00 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
There’s new evidence that a virus once thought to be linked to chronic fatigue syndrome was a false alarm.
A study concludes lab tests used to make that link are unreliable.
Researchers are withdrawing part of the original study that suggested the connection because a laboratory that contributed to the work discovered contamination in some of its samples.
In 2009, Nevada researchers announced they’d found a mouse-related virus in the blood of chronic fatigue patients, fuelling hopes that a cause of the mysterious illness might have been found.
Yet numerous other studies failed to confirm the findings.
The newest study, reported in “Science,” was part of U.S. government efforts to see if the virus might affect the safety of the blood supply.
It concluded there’s no reason to worry.
