What is XMRV?

XMRV stands for Xenotropic Murine leukemia virus-Related Virus and it is genetically similar to Murine Leukemia Viruses, a group of viruses that infect mice. It is one of 3 known human retroviruses and it was discovered in prostate cancer tumor tissue in 2006. You may have heard of another famous retrovirus before: HIV.

I first found out about XMRV in October of 2009, when a study was published showing that XMRV was found in the blood 67% of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Patients. Upon further investigation, the researchers found that 98% of the people with CFS showed evidence of infection through antibodies to XMRV. Even though this is only one study, it certainly appears that almost everyone who has a true case of CFS has this (or a related) retrovirus! I knew that CFS and Autism are so similar in symptoms so it was going to be an important discovery for the Autism Community, too. Here is the video that announces this breakthrough (Autism is discussed at 5:40):



Dare I say, when I read the research paper and I saw this video, I believed this was it. But that is just my instinct, not very scientific, I know. But a retrovirus is the best explanation I could think of that ties together the many organ systems affected in Autism and CFS but also the large increase of occurrence of these diseases.
Almost a year later in 2010, my suspicions were confirmed when a research abstract was presented at a conference and 82% of children with Autism in a small study tested positive for XMRV.

Introducing myself

Hi,
I am the second team member of the blog. I have had CFS for decades and fortunately have never been terribly ill with it. I have a child with autism also. Having been a nurse for many years I have watched the numbers of children with autism rise from very rare to very common. I do think that children are being diagnosed who would not have been years ago, but that only explains some of the increase. What we did not have, but surely have now, are the numbers of children with severe autism.
When I was in school (the olden days as my younger daughter likes to say) we had one classroom of kids with special needs. I knew those kids and none of them had autism. There was one school in New York City that I found out about in college that was for children with autism. I made a visit there and I had never seen children like those kids. Autism was a very rare condition. It is now four decades later. Does anyone know of a public school that does not have a classroom for children with autism? What metropolitan area does not have schools just for autism both public and private?
I met my first child with a spectrum disorder when I was in Graduate School now I recently read that one in every ten boys have ADHD. If this occurred with any other disease process it would be called an epidemic. Epidemics concern me.

Welcome!

This blog will focus more on science and current political issues surrounding not only Autism, but other neuro-immune diseases such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (also known as M.E.), and I plan on focusing in on a retrovirus that has been discovered in people diagnosed with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and also recently (although unpublished) Autism.
I am not a doctor. Just a mom. A mom who is sick with CFS and I have a child who was diagnosed with Autism. There are many other autism-moms out there sick and tired and it is not a coincidence. I believe there is a logical explanation for this phenomena: an infectious disease is spreading and it is a retrovirus called XMRV (or a variant of it).
We are at a critical point in time, the clock is ticking and there are people out there who don't want the truth to be known for some reason I do not know but can only speculate. Years ago evidence of this retrovirus was found by a scientist only to be buried by the CDC and starved of funding so that research could not continue.
So please remember again, I am not a doctor and these are my opinions. I am not sure I am equipped to do this right and I may make mistakes but I feel the need to speak up about this and let other moms and healthcare providers know that what they see in so many children today...IT'S NOT AUTISM!