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Chronic fatigue study retracted by journal
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The Canadian Press
A controversial study that linked chronic fatigue syndrome to a virus has been retracted by a prominent scientific journal.
The journal Science says it has lost confidence in the report — Detection of an Infectious Retrovirus, XMRV, in Blood Cells of Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome — and the validity of its conclusions, editor-in-chief Bruce Alberts wrote in Friday's issue. The study was originally published in October 2009.
That year, researchers in the state of Nevada announced they had found a mouse-related virus named XMRV in the blood of chronic fatigue patients, fuelling hopes that a cause of the mysterious illness might have been found. Chronic fatigue causes excessive fatigue, joint pain, impaired memory and painful lymph nodes. It is usually diagnosed after a person has experienced symptoms for at least six months. Affecting approximately 17 million people globally, it has long mystified scientists and doctors.
The Nevada scientists claimed they had tested blood from 101 patients and found two-thirds carried the XMRV virus. Because of the findings, blood banks began refusing blood donations from people who had been diagnosed with chronic fatigue.
However, many subsequent studies failed to confirm the findings.
In September, new research failed to turn up any evidence of the virus, prompting the study's authors to retract the portion of the research linking the virus to the disease. Previously, in May, Science had published two reports suggesting the original finding was due to lab contamination.
Robert Silverman, of the Cleveland Clinic, one of the paper's 13 authors, said in a statement Thursday that he was pleased by the full retraction. He said he had sought one in the summer after finding that blood samples were contaminated.
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