In the News
Keep up to date with the latest news articles from around the world.
Articles represent the views of their authors and not ME/CFS SA. Always seek advice from a registered health practitioner before changing your care plan.
19 February, 2024
Urgent Call For Action: Severe ME Patients In The UK Suffer From Neglect And Mistreatment
Severe ME patients in the UK face accusations of neglect and mistreatment by the National Health Service, despite recent improvements in guidelines. Organizations call for specific protocols to address this crisis, as one-quarter of patients are severely afflicted and bedridden.
18 February, 2024
How Much More Must People With Severe ME Tolerate From The UK’s NHS?
In recent months, multiple cases of people living with severe myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME, also referred to as chronic fatigue syndrome, CFS) being neglected and mistreated by the UK’s NHS have come to light. This is despite improvements in official guidelines – and historical outcry over medical professionals’ treatment of people living with the disease. So, one organisation is demanding the government acts – and you can get involved too. However, it may take more than this to change the health service’s institutionalised failures around ME.
18 February, 2024
Risk For Chronic Fatigue Soars Among Those Who Had COVID-19, Study Says
People who have had COVID-19 have a significantly higher risk of suffering chronic fatigue than those who haven’t had the disease, a new study published Wednesday shows. “Our data indicate that COVID-19 is associated with a significant increase in new fatigue diagnoses,” according to the study, published by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in the journal Emerging Infectious Diseases.
17 February, 2024
Estimates Of Incidence And Predictors Of Fatiguing Illness After SARS-CoV-2 Infection
This study aimed to estimate the incidence rates of post–COVID-19 fatigue and chronic fatigue and to quantify the additional incident fatigue caused by COVID-19. We analyzed electronic health records data of 4,589 patients with confirmed COVID-19 during February 2020–February 2021 who were followed for a median of 11.4 (interquartile range 7.8–15.5) months and compared them to data from 9,022 propensity score–matched non–COVID-19 controls. Among COVID-19 patients (15% hospitalized for acute COVID-19), the incidence rate of fatigue was 10.2/100 person-years and the rate of chronic fatigue was 1.8/100 person-years. Compared with non–COVID-19 controls, the hazard ratios were 1.68 (95% CI 1.48–1.92) for fatigue and 4.32 (95% CI 2.90–6.43) for chronic fatigue. The observed association between COVID-19 and the significant increase in the incidence of fatigue and chronic fatigue reinforces the need for public health actions to prevent SARS-CoV-2 infections.
17 February, 2024
Long-COVID's Lingering Shadow: Autonomic Dysfunction In Over Half Of Patients
Recent findings indicate that more than half of long-COVID patients suffer from autonomic dysfunction, a condition affecting essential bodily functions. Risk factors include gender and chronic heart disease, while the molecule FGF21 may hold the key to future treatments.
16 February, 2024
Long Covid Linked To Chronic Pain Conditions
People with chronic pain conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, migraine and irritable bowel syndrome are significantly more likely to have symptoms of Long Covid after a COVID-19 infection, according to a large new analysis.
16 February, 2024
NIH To bolster RECOVER Long COVID Research Efforts Through Infusion Of $515 Million
Four years after the COVID-19 pandemic began, Long COVID remains an unsolved, complex and urgent healthcare crisis. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1 in 9 adults in the United States who have ever had COVID-19 continue to experience Long COVID with a wide range of symptoms. Many symptoms are debilitating, affecting patients’ ability to work and go to school. To bolster Long COVID research efforts, NIH is investing an additional $515 million over the next four years into the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative, a nationwide research program to fully understand, diagnose and treat Long COVID. Launched in 2021 with $1.15 billion in Congressional appropriations, the RECOVER Initiative is taking a systematic, comprehensive and rigorous approach to improve our understanding of Long COVID and increase the odds of identifying treatments that work.
15 February, 2024
Long COVID Patients Need Scientific Ambition, Not Defeatism
Post-viral illnesses have often been neglected by science. Insights into Long COVID and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) show that this is the time to ramp up efforts.
15 February, 2024
Long COVID-19 Is Linked To Chronic Pain Conditions
Therapies for pain conditions like fibromyalgia provide clues for helping those with long COVID.
14 February, 2024
NIH Study: 5.8 Million Children And Youth Have Experienced Long COVID
A National Institutes of Health (NIH) study has found that 5.8 million children have experienced long COVID—symptoms of COVID-19 that have persisted long after the initial infection. The Nationwide research effort called the Researching COVID to Enhance Recovery (RECOVER) Initiative involved 10 pediatric hospital in the U.S., sought to provide vital information for doctors on the difficulty of diagnosing and treating post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC) and to better understanding its trajectory—and persistence—in these patients over time.
