Lies dies hier. Man hat sich in USA offenbar ganz offiziell besonnen.
By CHRISTINE DELL'AMORE
WASHINGTON, Nov. 3 (UPI) -- The CDC Friday launched a campaign to
advance knowledge of chronic fatigue syndrome, a debilitating
illness that goes widely underdiagnosed in the United States.
Although scientists are still largely puzzled by CFS, which was
formally named in 1988, a "convergence" of recent research has
prompted the federal agency to make the science visible to the
public, said Dr. Julie Gerberding, director of the Centers for
Disease Control and Prevention.
"We are beginning to open the shroud of mystery that has clouded
this illness for a long time," Gerberding said at a press conference
in Washington.
The campaign, which represents the government's first effort to
raise CFS awareness, will print materials and broadcast a series of
national public service announcements.
A new Web site,
http://www.cdc.gov/cfs, will also provide easy-to-read,
basic information for patients and clinicians. Since physicians are
often under-educated on CFS, the agency plans to distribute a "CFS
Toolkit" for doctors and others in healthcare.
CFS can cause prolonged fatigue muscle and joint pain, headache,
unrefreshing sleep and recurrent sore throat, symptoms that
cumulatively can be as severe and painful as renal failure, AIDS or
multiple sclerosis.
Epidemiological estimates suggest up to 1 million Americans may be
affected. The condition weighs most heavily on minority women
between 40 to 59, although men and adolescents are also at risk. It
often occurs with other diseases, such as lupus, Lyme disease and
often fibromyalgia, a chronic pain illness.
Experts believe only 20 percent of CFS sufferers get diagnosed,
partly due to the disease's lack of credibility and a lingering
belief that it is psychological, and somehow imagined.
"That debate raged for 20 years, and now it's over," said Dr.
Anthony Komaroff, a professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.
More than 3,000 research studies have now established CFS as a valid
physiological illness.
Yet diagnosis has remained cumbersome and complex. Doctors lack a
specific "biomarker," or laboratory test, for CFS, Dr. William
Reeves, the director of the CDC's CFS program, told United Press
International.
Doctors must sift through self-reported symptoms, accumulated over
time, to diagnose a patient. With physician visits averaging less
than 10 minutes, the slow, detail-driven process of CFS diagnosis
may fall by the wayside. Many doctors are also uncertain about how
to treat CFS, even though treatments are available to remedy some of
the more life-complicating symptoms such as sleep loss and pain.
In general, diagnosis is made when a patient has more than six
months of unexplained fatigue, without another medical explanation,
as well as four to eight other symptoms. CFS can occur immediately
after an infection -- many people describe their symptoms as a never-
ending flu -- or develop gradually, flaring up and disappearing over
time. Those who diagnose their illness earlier usually have a more
promising outcome.
The two types of CFS also seem to differ genetically, which suggests
there are varying risk factors for the two types of the illness,
Reeves told UPI.
Although its causes are still murky, scientists such as Reeves, who
has led CFS research since 1992, have begun to understand its
biological underpinnings.
For instance, researchers have pinpointed some of the genes involved
in sparking the illness. People with CFS seem to have genes that
lessen their resiliency to both mental and physical stress.
The HPA axis, a group of three organs that regulate hormones and
control the body's reaction to both physical and mental stress, may
malfunction in CFS patients. Studies have found certain hormones
released by the HPA axis are deficient in CFS patients.
Indeed, people with CFS often have other conditions suggestive of
exposure to stressors, such as multiple chemical sensitivity and
Gulf War syndrome. Women who have undergone chemotherapy for breast
cancer are also a demographic commonly affected, Reeves said.
Brain imaging studies also revealed CFS sufferers can have
inflammation, reduced blood flow and impaired cellular function. The
immune system seems to be in a state of chronic activation during
CFS.
In a recent study of CFS sufferers in Wichita, Kan., Reeves
discovered many of the affected families were unemployed, and on
average each family lost $20,000 in wages a year. When the Wichita
study is generalized to the U.S. population, that would add up to
$9.1 billion in lost earnings annually.
"We're a long way to having an answer, but we have a good start,"
Reeves said.
Many other studies on CFS are forthcoming, and several agencies,
including the Department of Health and Human Services and the
National Institutes of Health, are funding new research efforts.
HHS also announced it will award seven new research grants totaling
$4 million to various U.S. universities doing CFS research, said Dr.
John Agwunobi, assistant secretary for health at HHS.
The campaign should remind the public of the many Americans who
suffer disabilities, often in silence, Gerberding said.
"In addition to food safety issues and avian flu, we have urgent
realities, problems that affect people every day -- and one of these
urgent realities is CFS."
http://www.sciencedaily.com/upi/index.php?feed=Science&article=UPI-1-
20061103-18374200-bc-us-chronicfatigue.xml
Copyright 2006 by United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
Verfasst: Donnerstag 10. Mai 2007, 10:43