Journal of IiME Volume 6 Issue 1 (June 2012) visible. I have heard from hundreds and hundreds of people who are telling their stories – their courage, their commitment to try to live the best possible life they can (and) the tremendous impact that this is having on their ability to function”. Dr William Reeves, Chief of Chronic Viral Diseases Branch at CDC: “We’ve documented, as have others, that the level of impairment in people who suffer from (ME)CFS is comparable to multiple sclerosis, AIDS, end-stage renal failure, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. The disability is equivalent to that of some wellknown, very severe medical conditions. We found that (ME)CFS follows a pattern of remitting and relapsing symptoms, the symptoms can change over time, and that spontaneous recovery is rare. We found that the best predictor for (ME)CFS was intensity of the initial infectious disease. The sicker the patient when s/he first got infected, the more likely they were to have persisting chronic symptoms. There were no other factors, psychological or biological, that held up under thorough analysis”. Professor Anthony Komaroff, Harvard Medical School: “There are now over 4,000 published studies that show underlying biological abnormalities in patients with this illness. It’s not an illness that people can simply imagine that they have and it’s not a psychological illness. In my view, that debate, which was waged for 20 years, should now be over. A whole bunch of studies show that the hormone system is different in patients with (ME)CFS than in healthy people, people with depression and other diseases. Brain imaging studies have shown inflammation, reduced blood flow and impaired cellular function in different locations of the brain. Many studies have found that the immune system appears to be in a state of chronic activation (and) genes that control the activation of the immune system are abnormally expressed in patients with this illness. A number of studies have shown that there probably are abnormalities of energy metabolism in patients with this illness”. Professor Nancy Klimas, Professor of Medicine, University of Miami: “I’ve treated over 2,000 (ME)CFS patients. Today, there is evidence of the biological underpinnings. And there’s evidence Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) that the patients with this illness experience a level of disability that’s equal to that of patients with late-stage AIDS, patients undergoing chemotherapy, patients with multiple sclerosis. And that has certainly given it a level of credibility that should be easily understood. There are diagnostic criteria that enable clinicians to diagnose (ME)CFS in the primary care setting”. The full Press Conference is available at: http://www.cdc.gov/media/transcripts/t061103.h tm 2006 Commenting on a study in the November 2006 issue of Archives of General Psychiatry (Childhood Trauma Ups the Risk of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome), Professor Nancy Klimas said: “We’re not talking about a bunch of stressed-out people. We’re talking about the biological underpinnings of a real and very debilitating illness. We’re trying to remove the stigma of a psychiatric overlay and put it back in biology, where it belongs…..It’s important to see that CFS has subgroups. It’s really important not to merge all these observations into one solid, big group” (CoCure Res 8th November 2006). 2006 In the press follow-up of the CDC Toolkit launch, on 24th November 2006 Professor Nancy Klimas said that research over the past 20 years was beginning to figure out the biological underpinnings of the syndrome, which she thinks is badly misnamed: “If it were called chronic neuroinflammatory disease, then people would get it. Up until now nobody’s been willing to change the name, but now there’s proof that inflammation occurs in the brain. There’s evidence that the patients with this illness experience a level of disability that’s equal to that of patients with late-stage AIDS, patients undergoing chemotherapy (and) patients with multiple sclerosis”. She and other investigators have shown that different types of cells within the immune system are abnormal either in number or function (Co-Cure ACT 25th November 2006). 2007 www.investinme.org Page 75 of 108
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