FED: Chronic fatigue virus link sparks ban on blood donation

AAP General News (Australia)
04-28-2010
FED: Chronic fatigue virus link sparks ban on blood donation

By Danny Rose, Medical Writer.

SYDNEY, April 28 AAP - Australia's Red Cross Blood Service has placed a two-year moratorium
on accepting blood donations from people who have ever had chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS).

The service said the temporary halt would allow for more research into whether CFS
has a viral cause, which could pose a new type of transmission risk to the blood supply.

Red Cross spokesman Dr Tony Keller said the moratorium was a precautionary move based
on emerging, though conflicted, research which suggested a link between CFS and a recently
described virus known as XMRV.

"The science on this internationally is unclear," Dr Keller said.

"The recent North American research findings haven't been supported by research undertaken
in Europe, and there is currently no Australian research on XMRV.

"We will review our decision in two years' time, when further studies into the virus
have been done."

Dr Keller said the Red Cross would write to their "very few" active donors who had
recovered from CFS to explain the changes.

Before the moratorium, Australians with a history of CFS were able to donate blood
as long as they had recovered and they had a letter from their GP confirming this.

Only those with active CFS were turned away, and Dr Keller said this accounted for
about 70 intending donors in the past two years.

Earlier this month, Canadian authorities placed a total ban on taking blood donations
from people with a history of CFS.

XMRV (Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus) was first detected in prostate
tumours in 2006, and a US study late last year found it was commonly detected in blood
taken from people with CFS.

The study took in blood samples from 101 people with CFS and 95 per cent showed evidence
of XMRV infection, though subsequent studies have not produced the same results.

AAP dr/jl

KEYWORD: BLOOD

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