Campaign puts a spotlight on chronic fatigue syndrome

Treatment tips for physicians are provided in a new CDC initiative to improve care for the many people with this disorder.

By Susan J. Landers, AMNews staff. Nov. 27, 2006.

Washington -- The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is intent upon raising the profile of chronic fatigue syndrome, a puzzling condition that often evades medicine's traditional diagnose-and-treat radar.

After years of research, a critical mass of scientific data is providing solid evidence that CFS is a valid medical concern, said CDC Director Julie Gerberding, MD, MPH. What's more, she said, it affects about a million people in the nation.

Dr. Gerberding unveiled Nov. 3 a national CFS public education and awareness campaign called "Get Informed. Get Diagnosed. Get Help."

Suspicion that CFS was not a real disease has dogged physicians and their patients for decades. After all, who doesn't get fatigued, the critics asked. Now the message is that this is a real illness that needs real medical care, Dr. Gerberding said.

Thousands of research studies provide abundant evidence that CFS is a physiological illness, not a form of depression or hypochondriasis, according to the agency.

Central to the new education campaign are materials designed to help physicians recognize and treat patients who have the debilitating syndrome. Early detection is key to a successful outcome, said William Reeves, MD, director of the CDC's Viral Exanthems and Herpesvirus Branch, who also spoke at the event.

CFS is characterized by profound, debilitating fatigue that lasts at least six months and results in substantial reduction in occupational, personal, social or educational activities, according to the CDC's new CFS Toolkit for Health Care Professionals. The fatigue is not improved by rest and may be worsened by physical or mental activity.