Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) : At Last a Biological Insight Into the Disease....It’s a condition that blights the lives of possibly as many as four million Americans, but the medical community still knows relatively little about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) ....The Columbia University researchers identified a group of molecules, including the cytokine molecule in particular, that appears to be present in much higher quantities for CFS sufferers.

by Steve Williams March 3, 2015    

It’s a condition that blights the lives of possibly as many as four million Americans, but the medical community still knows relatively little about Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) and whether it is purely psychological or at its heart can be traced to a physical cause.

Now, new research published in Science Advances, sees doctors identify key differences in the immune systems not just of people who have CFS, but also differences between those who are newly diagnosed and those who have had the condition for a number of years.

The Columbia University researchers identified a group of molecules, including the cytokine molecule in particular, that appears to be present in much higher quantities for CFS sufferers. These molecules are involved in the body’s immune response to infections, with cytokine previously linked to the fatigue caused by the Epstein Barr Virus. That’s not to say that CFS is linked to that same virus, but rather that there may be “biomarkers,” things that we can look for in a person’s body, to better identify if they have CFS. As diagnosis of CFS can be very difficult, that prospect alone is something that is encouraging.

But What is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome?

That’s a good question. There is still no firm diagnostic criteria for CFS or myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) as it is sometimes known (for clarity, we’ll stick with CFS). In general, people may first present to their doctors saying that they are unable to do the things in their daily routine that before they became ill were effortless or required very little exertion. That sense of fatigue can also be characterized by the fact that even with bed rest the physical and mental feeling of being exhausted doesn’t go away. At its worst, CFS can leave people bedridden and unable to perform anything but the most simple of tasks like dressing themselves.

While currently there are no standardized diagnostic frameworks, the Centers for Disease Control notes that a CFS diagnosis usually hinges on three main criteria:

• The patient should have suffered from chronic fatigue for more than six months with no other medical causes of fatigue being present.
• The fatigue should significantly impact day to day life–for instance, many people with CFS find that holding down a job can be difficult.
• The patient should have four or more of the following symptoms: needing to recover after exertion for more than 24 hours, finding sleep does not reinvigorate, significant memory and cognitive “fuzz” or impairment, muscle pain as well as joint pain and swelling and redness, headaches, tender lymph nodes, and/or a persistently sore throat.  more