health and fitness: Is chronic fatigue syndrome finally being taken seriously?

dimanche 3 avril 2016

Is chronic fatigue syndrome finally being taken seriously?

Once dismissed by many doctors as a psychological illness, new research suggests CFS has its roots in infection – and there is hope of successful treatment

Jose Montoya was a trainee doctor when his supervisor told him that if he continued specialising in treating chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), he would end up homeless. “About 15 years ago, I started working with 10 patients who’d had their lives devastated by this illness,” says Montoya, now a professor at Stanford University and one of the world’s leading experts on the disease. “I had been able to help them, so I took my results to my academic mentor and he told me: ‘You are committing academic suicide. You’re turning your career into a mess.’”

Months later, Montoya, was travelling to a conference in Paris with his mentor when the subject came up again. “There was a homeless man lying drunk in the street, and he pointed to him and told me: ‘That’s how you’re going to end up if you keep studying chronic fatigue syndrome.’”