1. De Meirleir K, Suhadolnik RJ, Lebleu B, Englebienne P. Antiviral pathway activation in chronic fatigue syndrome and acute infection [letter]. Clin Infect Dis 2002; 34:1420–1 (in this issue). 2. Gow JW, Simpson K, Behan PO, Chaudhuri A, McKay IC, Behan WMH. Antiviral pathway activation in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome and acute infection. Clin Infect Dis 2001; 33:2080–1. 3. Fukuda K,...

In China, moxibustion is reported to be useful and has few side effects for chronic fatigue syndrome, but its mechanisms are largely unknown. More recently, the focus has been on the wealth of information supporting stress as a factor in chronic fatigue syndrome, and largely concerns dysregulation in the stress-related hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. In the present study, we aimed to deter...

The objectives of this study were to evaluate the reliability, validity, and utility of a newly developed clinical syndrome approach to assessing cancer-related fatigue. Fifty-one patients who underwent blood or marrow transplantation an average of 6.9 months previously were administered a standardized interview designed to identify the presence of a clinical syndrome of cancer-related fatigue....

OBJECTIVES To compare general practitioners' perceptions of chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome and to consider the implications of their perceptions for treatment. DESIGN Qualitative analysis of transcripts of group discussions. PARTICIPANTS AND SETTING A randomly selected sample of 46 general practitioners in England. RESULTS The participants tended to stereotype patie...

BACKGROUND Cognitive behavioural therapy does not reduce fatigue in post-polio syndrome, but is effective in facioscapulohumeral dystrophy. This difference in efficacy might be explained by a different role of cognitions in these conditions. OBJECTIVE To compare fatigue-related cognitions between patients with post-polio syndrome and facio-scapulohumeral dystrophy. SUBJECTS Patients with po...

Controversy regarding the aetiology and treatment of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome continues among the medical professions. The Cochrane Collaboration advises practitioners to implement graded exercise therapy for patients with chronic fatigue syndrome using cognitive behavioural principles. Conversely, there is evidence that exercise can exacerbate symptoms in chronic fatigue syndrome...

BACKGROUND Chronic fatigue syndrome is likely to be a heterogeneous condition. Previous studies have empirically defined subgroups using combinations of clinical and biological variables. We aimed to explore the heterogeneity of chronic fatigue syndrome. METHOD We used baseline data from the PACE trial, which included 640 participants with chronic fatigue syndrome. Variable reduction, using a...

Objectives To compare general practitioners’ perceptions of chronic fatigue syndrome and irritable bowel syndrome and to consider the implications of their perceptions for treatment. Design Qualitative analysis of transcripts of group discussions. Participants and setting A randomly selected sample of 46 general practitioners in England. Results The participants tended to stereotype patients wi...

OBJECTIVE Chronic fatigue syndrome is a recently characterized condition of unknown origin that is manifested by fatigue, flulike complaints, and neurologic signs and symptoms, including persistent headache, impaired cognitive abilities, mood disorders, and sensorimotor disturbances. This syndrome can be difficult to diagnose clinically or by standard neuroradiologic tests. We performed MR imag...

The idea that chronic fatigue has an infectious origin has become popular, but the main evidence for such an association has come from retrospective case-control studies, which are subject to ascertainment bias. We report a prospective study of the outcome of clinically diagnosed infections in patients presenting to UK general practitioners. Questionnaires assessing fatigue and psychiatric morb...