Nowadays, especially in industrial countries it is more common to hear about psychiatric disorders. There are more and more described neuro-psychatric diseases. An interesting disease is Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), first described in 1956 in England, and in the year 1988 it was recognized as individual syndrome by Center for Disease Control (CDC).

The diagnosis of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome cannot be made quickly because the symptoms of this disease are similar to a lot of another conditions such as: hyper – and hypothyroidism, AIDS, chronic hepatitis, anemia, boreliosis, fibromyalgy, sarcoidosis, Parkinson’s disease, Cushing’s disease, diabetes, depression, anxiety disorder, hypercalcemy, because of nutrition deficiency – pernicious anemia due to vitamin B12 deficit. Therefore, all of these diseases should be excluded before CFC diagnosis.

The diagnosis of CFS is not simple. So far there isn’t any recommended procedure or biological parameter which can directly confirm the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. That is why a study of scientists from Whittemore Peterson Institute, National Cancer Institute and Cleveland Clinic from the 2009 was treated so enthusiastically. In the year 2009 they have postulated that HMRV (xenotropic murine leukemia virus-related virus) is responsible for CFS. From the beginning this theory was questioned (e.g. because of inappropriate control and researched study) and finally it was revoked in Science on December 2011 because the authors on their own have admitted to contamination of PCR-results.

At least four of the eight Fukuda’s criterions should be accomplished in the 6 months period to diagnose CFS. That criterions are: short memory and concentration disorders which worsen the social and work life, sore throat, sensitive axial and neck lymphnodes, muscle aches, painful and swollen joints, headaches, incapability to relax (no relax after sleep), physical fatigue more than 24 hours after effort.

There is also Bell’s scale developed, which can asses a severity of state of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. And so: 100 – is a state without any symptoms, 90 – light tiredness occurs after effort, 80- a tiredness occurs in a rest and increases with effort, 70 – there is also daily action decreased, the activity level is 90% of the norm, 60 – the activity level is 70-90% of the norm, tiredness occurring in the rest- light or mild, 50 – the activity level is 70% of the norm, incapability to do tiresome functions, light activities are performed 4-5 hours/day with breaks, 40 – the activity level is 50-70%, light functions are performed 3-4 hours/day with breaks, 30 – a middle or hard tiredness in the rest, the activity level 50%, activities are performed 2-3 hours/day, 20 – the activity level 30-50%, the most of time bedridden, 10 – patients are only at home, decreased concentration, 0 – all the time bedridden, incapability to take care of yourself.

However, it can be postulated that a lot of infectious diseases lead to development of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome. In at least 5% of patients investigated by Norwegian scientists, CFS is developed after giardia enteritis. There was also evidence of association between CFS and Chlamydia, Mycoplasma and Epstein-Barr-Virus infections.

Unluckily, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome is a composed disease hard to diagnose. The risk groups are 20-40-yeadr-old people, who work more than 12 hours/day, prevalence by women:men – 3:1. There is no common therapy. Psychotherapy, physiotherapy, pain treatment, eradication of pathogens can be advised depending on the condition of the patient. The additional complication of CFS is that we don’t know which biological, physical or psychic pathogen is responsible for that disease, which potentially may lead to total disability, so we are looking forward to the scientists’ news.

Written by: Magdalena Chorążka

Source:
1. http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronisches_Ersch%C3%B6pfungssyndrom
2. The chronic fatigue syndrome. A comprehensive approach to its definition and study. Fukuda K; Straus S, Hickie I, et al.: Annales of Internal Medicine 1994
3. Intensivkurs Psychatrie Und Psychotherapie, Brunnhuber S. et all, Elsevier Urban&Partner 2004, 287
4. Detection of an infectious retrovirus, XMRV, in blood cells of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome. Lombardi VC, Ruscetti FW, Das Gupta J, et al.: In: Science. 326, Nr. 5952, Oktober 2009, S. 585–9
5. Retraction of Lombardi et al., Science 326 (5952) 585-589; Science 23 December 2011; Vol. 334 no. 6063 p. 1636; http://www.sciencemag.org/content/334/6063/1636.1.full
6. Multiple Sources of Contamination in Samples from Patients Reported to Have XMRV Infection, Kearney MF et all., PLoS One, Feb 2012

Want to know more about other virus? Watch on medtube.net “Cytomegalovirus Esophagitis”