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.
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