Laila Dåvøy believes the state should pay the bill for ME-patients that want to be tested for the XMRV-virus.
Laila Dåvøy (KrF) thinks the findings of the XMRV-virus in Norwegian ME patients is exciting. Now she wants the state to provide financial support so more can be tested.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (ME)
Other symptoms are:
Dåvøy, who sits on the health and care committee of the Norwegian Parliament, believes the virus findings are interesting and calls for the Norwegian health authorities to financially support research.
Today, NRK wrote about Anette Gilje who has lived with the disease Chronic fatigue syndrome since she was 26 years old.
Gilje was bedridden and wheelchair dependent for 14 years before it was discovered that she had a variety of infections, as well as inflammation of the intestines. With the help of antibiotics and other drugs she has managed to get noticeably better.
Two with virus discovered in Norway
Gilje, together with about 30 other Norwegian ME patients, was tested for the so-called XMRV virus under the supervision of the Lillestrøm Health Clinic.
The HIV-like virus is triggered by other infections and inflammation and gradually breaks down the immune system. XMRV was found in 95 percent of a group of ME patients who were tested in the United States.
Results from the first 10 samples of Norwegian patients show that 20 percent of these ME sufferers have the virus in their body.
The state should finance testing
“ I am very pleased with the work the Lillestrøm Health Clinic has done for the Norwegian ME patients. It is good that we have doctors in Norway who take this seriously, "said Laila Dåvøy to NRK.
She thinks that the Social and Health Directorate has been slow in wanting to accept the possibility of a connection between infections and ME.
We should have done a lot more in Norway and should also look at what is happening in foreign research. We can’t do everything here at home, "said Dåvøy.
Anette Gilje (left) has lived with ME since she was 26 years old. Dr. Mette Johnsgaard organized virus tests for 30 Norwegian patients.
Photo: Helge Carlsen / NRK
Today, ME patients who want to be tested for the virus must cover the costs themselves, but when Parliament starts up again, Dåvøy wants to suggest that the state cover the bill.
–Norway should also invest in research and create a competent environment that plans for the future," said Dåvøy.
Cause or consequence?
Pediatrician Vegard Bruun Wyller.
Photo: Liam Jordan / Alrik Velsvik / NRK
But it is not a priority for the research community, according to physician Dr. Med. Vegard Bruun Wyller of the Women and Children’s Clinic, Oslo University Hospital Rikshospitalet.
He led the study group that was behind the Norwegian Knowledge Centre for Health’s report on Chronic fatigue syndrome. He is also the leader of an ME-research project aimed at children.
–It's all about funding, and it is the government's role to find funding, "said Wyller to NRK.
He describes the Norwegian findings of XMRV as interesting:
But it is very important to establish research using control groups that can prove whether this virus is more common in ME patients than in healthy controls, says Wyller.
Another question is whether the XMRV-virus is a cause or a consequence of ME.
–Therefore, it is difficult to draw firm conclusions, but it is important to test more people in a larger research project.
"Personally I am skeptical that the solution to the entire ME-state lies with a single virus. In general, it is unlikely that ME has a single cause, but the discovery of XMRV may be part of a larger puzzle that can help solve the riddle of ME, said Wyller.
Source: http://www.nrk.no/nyheter/norge/1.7259180
Translation by ESME
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