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In October 2009 it was reported that 68 of 101 patients with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) in the United States, when tested, were infected with a novel gamma retrovirus, xenotropic ~ ~murine leukemia virus-related virus (XMRV) (Lombardi et al., 2009). XMRV is a recently ~ ~discovered human gammaretrovirus first described in prostate cancers that shares ~ ~significant homology with murine leukemia virus (MLV) (Ursiman et al., 2006). It is known ~ ~that XMRV can cause leukemias and sarcomas in several rodent, feline, and primate species ~ ~but has not been shown to cause disease in humans. XMRV was detectable in the peripheral ~ ~blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) and plasma of individuals diagnosed with CFS ~ ~(Lombardi et al., 2009). After this report was published there was a great deal of uncertainty ~ ~surrounding this emergent virus and its involvement in the etiology of CFS. The uncertainty ~ ~was, in part, due to CFS being a complex, poorly understood multi-system disorder with ~ ~different disease criteria used for its diagnosis. CFS, also known as Myalgic ~ ~Encephalomyelitis (ME), is a debilitating disease of unknown origin that is estimated to ~ ~affect 17 million people worldwide. The initial report connecting XMRV to prostate cancers ~ ~and CFS garnered significant media and scientific interest since it provided a potential ~ ~ ~ ~Susie ElSaadany2**, Tamer Oraby1 ~ ~* ~ ~Daniel Krewski1, 4 and Peter R. Ganz5 ~ ~1McLaughlin Centre for Population Health Risk Assessment, Institute of Population Health, University of ~ ~Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ~ ~2Blood Safety Surveillance and Health Care Acquired Infections Division, Centre for Communicable Diseases and ~ ~Infection Control, Public Health Agency of Canada, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ~ ~3Aspinall and Associates, Cleveland House, High Street, and Earth Sciences, Bristol University, Bristol, United ~ ~Kingdom ~ ~4Department of Epidemiology and Community Medicine, Faculty of Medicine, University of Ottawa, Ottawa, ~ ~Ontario, Canada ~ ~5Health Canada, Director’s Office, Ottawa, Ontario, Canada ~ ~** Corresponding Author ~ ~, Marian Laderoute2 ~ ~, Jun Wu2 ~ ~, Willy Aspinall3 ~ ~, ~ ~www.intechopen.com ~ ~32 The Continuum of Health Risk Assessments ~ ~explanation for the disease but also an avenue for possible therapeutic treatments since ~ ~XMRV is known to be susceptible to some anti-retroviral drugs (Cohen, 2011).