Conflicting Papers on Hold as XMRV Frenzy Reaches New Heights

Martin Enserink

Scientists at the U.S. National Institutes of Health and the Food and Drug Administration have been reported to have confirmed the link, first published in Science last year, between a human retrovirus and the elusive condition called chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). Earlier this year, three other groups reported being unable to replicate such a connection. That federal scientists now confirmed it was a huge mood-lifter for patients, many of whom are desperate to find a biological cause, and a cure, for their debilitating ailment. But the story wasn’t as simple as that. Sciencehas learned that a paper describing the new findings has been put on hold because it directly contradicts another as-yet-unpublished study by a third government agency, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That paper, a retrovirus scientist says, is also on hold; it fails to find a link between the xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus and CFS.