CDC/Medscape - Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: It's Real, and We Can Do Better Elizabeth Unger

Merge thread

CDC released a video about ME/CFS on Medscape today. The video features Dr. Beth Unger and is directed at doctors, encouraging them that they can appropriately diagnose and care for people with ME/CFS.

IMO, its generally pretty good although I wish they would explicitly discredit CBT and GET as inappropriate

 

Yes I agree. Even if they didn't dare to criticize GET/CBT openly, there could have been a warning that ME/CFS patients do not tolerate standard exercise regimes, like the CDC do on their website.

But overall, this seems like a very useful video and message.

 

The irony being that the webpage description, that shows in previews of the page, calls it ME/CSF...

 

Another positive development likely resulting from the IOM report.

 

Every doctor needs to understand this. The days of abandoning ME/CFS patients without care, telling them exercise more, or relegating them to psychiatry are over. Doctors must provide symptomatic relief for the worst symptoms and try to improve patient quality of life.

 

CDC and Medscape also released a CME activity for physicians and other healthcare providers.
https://www.medscape.org/viewarticle/907632?src=acdmpart_cdc

This CME is a discussion moderated by Dr. Bateman, with Drs. Azar, Klimas, and Montoya as panel members

I also posted this in its own thread here

 

This would mean acknowledging they got it wrong and that PACE was wrong, and they have made it clear I think they won't do that. As a public health professional, I find that pretty disgraceful for the country's lead public health agency.

 

For some reason I think they are afraid people won't trust them if they say they were wrong.

What they don't seem to realize is that people will trust them more if they are honest about what went wrong. Sweeping it under the rug is not the way to gain trust.

 

I think from their POV they believe that they can manipulate most people's trust and that they are no wrong or to put it another way I expect they believe they are mostly right.

 

Job advert for CDC

Health Scientist
Department of Health And Human Services
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention

Duties
Summary
Serve as a senior advisor on public health research, evaluation, and policy planning, including prevention, as applied to the diseases and illnesses that are under the jurisdiction of the Branch. Will serve as a subject matter expert and deputy to the branch chief guiding all programmatic activities of the branch. Major focus of the incumbent will be to develop a strategic plan encompassing myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and human papillomavirus (HPV) programs.
Responsibilities

• Develop policy and objectives, appraising programs, and initiating requirements for health science studies.
• Serve as advisor for the planning, design, implementation, and analysis of projects.
• Plan work to be accomplished by subordinates, set and adjust short-term priorities, and prepare schedules for completion of work, when necessary.
• Assign work to subordinates based on priorities, considering difficulty and requirements of assignments as well as the capabilities of employees
• Give advice, counsel, or instruction to employees on both work and administrative matters.

Open & closing dates

• 07/30/2019 to 08/05/2019

https://www.usajobs.gov/GetJob/ViewDetails/540690800#agency-modal-trigger

 

Thanks @Sly Saint for posting this!

 

How big of a job is this? Unger works on HPV and ME/CFS: could she be retiring or moving elsewhere?

 

This better be real and sincere. We needed that 50 years ago but now is also a good time for this.

Aimless wandering is rarely a good strategy. Not surprising that aimless wandering has yielded diddly squat.

 

One question is why does this posting talk about a strategic plan encompassing both ME and HPV?
Just because (as @Dolphin says) Unger has worked on both doesn't mean there's a solid connection between them - and certainly CDC hasn't been spending a lot of time and effort looking at that. It also wouldn't have anything to do with children getting ME so even less of a connection.
Much more is known about HPV than ME so tying the 2 together in a strategic plan is baffling to me. (Though perhaps I'm just easily baffled.)

 

my best guess is that @Dolphin made a good guess and Dr. Unger is retiring or moving on.

If they need to replace a specific person, they might think they need someone to do all the stuff she was doing.

Otherwise I can't think of any reason to lump ME and HPV together.

 

Uh. I assume they're two different projects but CDC leadership seems to think the skills required for both align enough to benefit from being approached similarly? Maybe? The overlap between the two is otherwise not that obvious and definitely a bit baffling unless they are separate but simply assumed to benefit from a similar skillset.

 

Open & closing dates

• 07/30/2019 to 08/05/2019

A 7 day application window. Sounds like a formality

 

With $5MM per year in funding, one would think that would allow a full time person to be 100% dedicated to ME/CFS. Or is that $5MM being used to fund other things......

 

7 days dead in the middle of summer vacation. May as well make it February 29th.