Got this today about the NIH study - http://www.cfscentral.com/

Sounds like they are hot on the trail of the virus - which validates the condition, but at the same time now what?

It took more than a decade to find anything that worked on HIV - we can only hope this time they can build on what they know and put this virus in the "win" column before we're all too old to care.

No matter how you read it it's good news though.

great news. much easier to deal with fm or cfs if they are validated. this takes such a toll on us psychologically. by the time we realize that we have it we're so exhausted and mislabeled.

Yes, I am ready for them to move on working out a blood test, then some type of treatment. Not necessarily a cure, but like HIV, a treatment to keep it at bay.

Peace after reading the article that you linked to and saw the stuff about mice, I am now wondering if perhaps when I was in 10th grade science class we had to raise mice to do experiments on, some of mine escaped and when I found them and picked them up to try and put back into the cages I got bit real heard by one of them. hmmmm. Just food for thought. I got what we thought was mono about 1.5 yrs later, wonder if there is any connection to me having both CFS and FMS now.

Yep. Let's roll out that test that proves we're not making this shit up and lets get busy releasing the anti-retroviral drugs. And hurry it up! Dammit!

Hmmm, I've been coping with this for over 20 years and I know a few who've been doing it for much longer. Will we even know how to be NOT SICK? Can you imagine what it will be like?

Hmmm, I think I must imagine wellness every day, but its just a hopeful goal. It's kinda weird (in a nice way) when hope rings true.

Yaay! Progress!!!

Unduki, I agree. I get tears in my eyes to think that one day I could actually wake up and not feel sick. We have waited too long! I just wonder what kind of damage this illness has already done to my body and how the heck did I catch this?

Don't lose hope!

from WSJ

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748703846604575447744076968322.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

I'm not a doctor, but I've been following this research pretty closely, especially since I had a neighbor with whom I used to compare notes.

There is only one tiny sample of fibro patients that were tested. A high percentage of them also had the virus. I just wrote an email urging them to test us.

About transmission--it is pretty unclear. It doesn't seem to be transmitted by sex, unlike HIV. There are few couples who both have CFS. However, it does seem that members of families can be affected. For instance, I have two brothers who I believe have it. One calls in Gulf War Syndrome and the other TMJ. Of course, because they are men they are taken more seriously.

Fibro patients should be pushing for studies. This was only found because a CFS patient's family formed a foundation and funded the research.

Thanks for posting.. I have to say...there is a big difference in the medical community now that this stuff is coming out big in the news. When I used to go to my specialists -other than my fibro doc..and tell them I had fibro they rolled their eyes and acted like it was nothing.. but NOW they are very nice to me.!

Thank-you for posting!

Have you ever read Osler's Web? About the suspected initial cases in CO of CFS? fascinating story!

Oh! I hadn't thought about actually being treated with respect by the medical community. Nah... that couldn't happen... could it???

I feel like Alice Through The Looking Glass - stuck on the other side all this time.

I can still remember that first diagnosis that they gave me and said I was depressed. Yes, I was depressed because I had a bad virus and never got over it. Yes, mine all started when I had a terrible flu like illness. I would love to revisit that doctor now 18 years later and present these findings to him and also to the big university centers who still didn't believe that it was real- maybe they realize now!!!!I've had my share of unbelief all these years from doctors, friends and family as well. Now, at least, I have something that can validate what I've said all along. Will we get the attention that other virus have? I doubt it very seriously. They have sat on this for so many years and not done any research when there is such a large population suffering from it, and none of us did anything to cause us to get it. If we could have avoided it, we certainly would have done so, but we weren't that fortunate. Now years and years later, they finally admit it. Thank goodness for the researchers who have continued down this path and not given up on us. I am so thankful for all of their research and we should all as a community be indebted for their countless hours of research when all evidence was against them. Let's just hope that they will take this serious enough to continue to research and not just give lip service to it. I remain cautiously optimistic until I can see more efforts toward a cure and more funding for research which hasn't been there up to this point. That is the sad part of this. Funding is so low for research. Hopefully, something will happen and future generations can be helped. I sure hope so.

Here is another very interesting link about the virus news. It is pretty technical, but also goes into the politics of the research. Research had been suppressed, because a powerful lobby of doctors preferred to believed their patients were crazy! I've also found references to the desire of these current researchers to extend it to fibromyalgia and other diseases. It is still controversial--the "crazy" doctors are still out there and unhappy. However, since it is now a threat to the blood supply, I expect there to be much research coming.

Here's the link:

http://www.cfscentral.com/2010/08/fdanihharvard-xmrv-study-same-thing.html