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Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

New restrictions for blood donations

AIDS-like virus linked to chronic fatigue

By: Joseph Hall

Posted: 04/8/2010 1:00 AM | Comments: 0 (including replies)

REED SAXON / THE ASSOCIATED PRESS ARCHIVES Enlarge Image

Researchers have found no definitive link between virus and chronic fatigue syndrome.

TORONTO -- An AIDS-like virus that has been linked to chronic fatigue syndrome is causing Canadian blood officials to ban anyone who has suffered from the ailment from making donations.

While stressing that researchers have found no definitive links between the virus, known as XMRV, and chronic fatigue syndrome, Canadian Blood Services says it will err on the side of caution and implement the new restrictions.

Canada is the first country in the world to make the change, which is being rolled out in donation centres nationwide over the coming weeks, says Dana Devine, head of medical and scientific research with the blood services agency.

"We've basically said 'OK, let's assume that this might be a problem and let's not wait until all these studies have sorted out the answer,"' Devine says.

"Because we're uncertain of the state of the science still, we're going to wait until this sorts out and defer anyone who's been diagnosed," she says.

The move was approved by Health Canada last month.

U.S. media outlets reported this week that public health authorities there were investigating the possibility the retrovirus posed a threat to that nation's blood supply.

Because it closely resembles the AIDS virus, many believe XMRV can be similarly transmitted through the exchange of bodily fluids or blood transfusions.

And a study published last October in the prestigious journal Science suggested XMRV was strongly associated with chronic fatigue, although three subsequent studies have cast doubt on those findings. Last September, researchers from the University of Utah also found the virus in prostate cancer cells. While XMRV was shown to be present, researchers found no evidence it contributed to the disease's onset.

Cancer patients are already prohibited from donating blood in Canada, Devine says.

She says the agency is part of an international effort to create an effective screening tool that could look for XMRV in all donated blood.

An estimated 340,000 Canadians have been diagnosed with chronic fatigue. But Devine says most would be too ill to give blood already and there is little chance the current supply has been contaminated.

-- The Canadian Press

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition April 8, 2010 A9

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