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05 Apr 2010 10:06

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U.S.: XMRV: It’s not HIV, but does it transmit the same way?

  • bad XMRV, first discovered in 2006, is infectious and linked to two diseases – prostrate cancer and chronic fatigue syndrome. But evidence is still inconclusive.
  • worse Preliminary evidence suggests the disease is transmitted through blood just like HIV. Unlike HIV, it’s not currently checked for in the nation’s blood supply. Great. source

07 Sep 2009 20:12

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U.S.: Here’s another genetic detail in the ongoing fight against cancer

  • A virus linked with animal cancer was found in humans. Researchers at the University of Utah and Columbia University recently spent a lot of time looking at prostate cancer cells recently. (Which doesn’t sound like a lot of fun, by the way.) In the 200 cancerous prostates they studied, they found that 27% had XMRV (Xenotropic murine leukaemia virus-related virus), a retrovirus that copies itself into the cancerous cell’s DNA. (In other words, it works just like AIDS.) This is significant, because it’s the first human link to XMRV that scientists have found. source