Journal of IiME Volume 4 Issue 1 www.investinme.org Letter from America Annette Whittermore – Testimony to CFSAC The United States governmental entity responsible for alerting and protecting the American public from threats to their health is the Centers for Disease Control, better known as the CDC. The CDC’s mission is to collaborate to create the expertise, information, and tools that people and communities need to protect their health – through health promotion, prevention of disease, injury and disability, and preparedness for new health threats. Yet, one to four million Americans still suffer from a poorly understood, debilitating disease which was first identified in the United States in three separate recorded outbreaks over 25 years ago, including: Incline Village, Nevada Lyndonville, New York and Miami, Florida. The individuals who became ill that year came from various economic classes, different age groups, including children and adults and affected people in a small rural town, a large lakeside community and a huge metropolitan area. The individuals in those outbreaks all exhibited the same complex symptoms, yet none of the patients were examined by the government employees who were sent to investigate. The doctors who alerted the CDC were not told of the other communities in the United States experiencing the same phenomenon. Despite the serious concerns about the severity of the patient’s symptoms and their rapid decent into disability, the CDC refused to investigate further. The CDC concluded that this was a new form of EBV mono. They convened a meeting, in which they decided to call this illness “chronic fatigue syndrome” rather than adopt the name that was being used in the UK: myalgic encephalomyelitis (M.E.). M.E. at that time was already a well characterized infectious neurological disease causing a similar complex illness. Thus began a twenty five year battle between patients and doctors who fully realized the severity of this illness and a government that has yet to commit an appropriate level of financial resources to aid the discovery process necessary to help individuals with this disease. Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) Annette Whittemore Annette Whittemore is founder and President of the Whittemore-Peterson Institute of Nevada, USA. The CFSAC The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee was established to provide sciencebased advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services and the Assistant Secretary for Health on a broad range of issues and topics pertaining to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The Committee advises and makes recommendations to the Secretary, through the Assistant Secretary for Health, on a broad range of topics including: (1) the current state of knowledge and research about the epidemiology and risk factors relating to chronic fatigue syndrome, and identifying potential opportunities in these areas; (2) current and proposed diagnosis and treatment methods for chronic fatigue syndrome; and (3) development and implementation of programs to inform the public, health care professionals, and the biomedical, academic and research communities about chronic fatigue syndrome advances. Not only has the lack of adequate resources been a major road block to discovery, but the CFS scientific review committees are currently ill-equipped to review many of the biologically complex scientific grant requests. Attempts to engage in biological research by basic researchers from virology and retro virology have generally been turned down in favor of studies aligned with a psychological theory of illness. Years of misdirected research have resulted in a lack of a medical specialty for this group of patients to rely on for expert care. Doctors have been left without adequate knowledge and the tools to effectively care for their patients. The sick have been turned away by major medical centers, ignored by government, and their claims denied Page 28/56
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