The use of preliminary scientific evidence in public health: a case study of XMRV.
Kumanan Wilson and colleagues explain how the rapid response to XMRV as a novel pathogen has highlighted some challenges pertaining to policy-making and editorial responsibilities. The impact on policy and the propagation of the initial scientific information may not cease if the evidence is disproven and retracted from the peer-reviewed literature, which creates a challenge for regulators and scientific journals. Please see later in the article for the Editors' Summary.
Departments of Medicine and of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, Canada; Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.
Kumanan
K
Wilson
Clinical Epidemiology Program, Ottawa Hospital Research Institute, Ottawa, Canada.
Katherine
K
Atkinson
Dalla Lana School of Public Health, University of Toronto, Toronto, Canada.
Jennifer
J
Keelan
D001782:Blood Donors; D035081:Editorial Policies; D006291:Health Policy / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D006801:Humans; D011050:Policy Making; D011634:Public Health / Q000331:legislation & jurisprudence*; D012192:Retroviridae Infections / Q000517:prevention & control / Q000635:transmission* / Q000821:virology; D058008:Xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus / Q000502:physiology*