2008 Woodie Awards
Virus may cause chronic fatigue syndrome
Sarah Westen
Issue date: 9/20/07 Section: Sci/Tech
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The September 13 edition of HealthDay News reports riveting results of research provoked by a father's concern for his son with a debilitating condition with unclear etiology.
The condition is chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention defines CFS as "a debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity." Patients report nonspecific symptoms, including weakness, muscle pain, impaired memory and/or mental concentration, insomnia, and fatigue lasting more than 24 hours. The disease can persist for years however, and the patient often functions at a substantially lower level than they were capable before the onset of illness, claims the CDC.
This week, Dr. John Chia and his son Andrew Chia, 24, are co-authors in a study linking chronic fatigue syndrome with enteroviruses, which cause acute respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Andrew was diagnosed with CFS in 1997, spurring his father, an infectious disease specialist in Torrance, California, to study the illness.
The illness was first recognitized in the late 1980s and was initially dubbed the "yuppie flu." Many are skeptical of the condition; it lacks credibly since the cause of CFS has not been identified and many illnesses have incapacitating fatigue as a symptom. To make matters worse for sufferers, there is no specific diagnostic test to diagnose CFS. In 1994, a panel of CFS researches drafted a definition of CFS to aid researchers studying the illness and clinicians attempting to diagnose it. According to the CDC, a patient must satisfy two criteria: 1. Have severe chronic fatigue of six months or longer duration with other known medical conditions excluded by clinical diagnosis; and, 2. Concurrently have four or more of the following symptoms: substantial impairment in short-term memory or concentration; sore throat; tender lymph nodes; muscle pain; multi-joint pain without swelling or redness; headaches of a new type, pattern or severity; unrefreshing sleep; and post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours. The symptoms must have persisted or recurred during six or more consecutive months of illness and must not have predated the fatigue. It is estimated more than one million people in the United States fulfill these criteria.
The condition is chronic fatigue syndrome, or CFS. The Center for Disease Control and Prevention defines CFS as "a debilitating and complex disorder characterized by profound fatigue that is not improved by bed rest and that may be worsened by physical or mental activity." Patients report nonspecific symptoms, including weakness, muscle pain, impaired memory and/or mental concentration, insomnia, and fatigue lasting more than 24 hours. The disease can persist for years however, and the patient often functions at a substantially lower level than they were capable before the onset of illness, claims the CDC.
This week, Dr. John Chia and his son Andrew Chia, 24, are co-authors in a study linking chronic fatigue syndrome with enteroviruses, which cause acute respiratory and gastrointestinal infections. Andrew was diagnosed with CFS in 1997, spurring his father, an infectious disease specialist in Torrance, California, to study the illness.
The illness was first recognitized in the late 1980s and was initially dubbed the "yuppie flu." Many are skeptical of the condition; it lacks credibly since the cause of CFS has not been identified and many illnesses have incapacitating fatigue as a symptom. To make matters worse for sufferers, there is no specific diagnostic test to diagnose CFS. In 1994, a panel of CFS researches drafted a definition of CFS to aid researchers studying the illness and clinicians attempting to diagnose it. According to the CDC, a patient must satisfy two criteria: 1. Have severe chronic fatigue of six months or longer duration with other known medical conditions excluded by clinical diagnosis; and, 2. Concurrently have four or more of the following symptoms: substantial impairment in short-term memory or concentration; sore throat; tender lymph nodes; muscle pain; multi-joint pain without swelling or redness; headaches of a new type, pattern or severity; unrefreshing sleep; and post-exertional malaise lasting more than 24 hours. The symptoms must have persisted or recurred during six or more consecutive months of illness and must not have predated the fatigue. It is estimated more than one million people in the United States fulfill these criteria.
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