India Abroad: "Mysterious Chronic Fatigue Syndrome shuts down young adults’ lives"

https://www.indiaabroad.com/health/...cle_693fcce2-190e-11e8-a7b3-7f1e6e75dcc8.html

Overall a good article that quotes many of the usual suspects: Montoya, Dimmock, Davis. Overall, the article is very California-centric, and quotes several clinicians.

One error: the NIH budget for HIV/AIDS in 2013 was not "$28.8 billion". I think they are off a decimal point.

Another nitpick: The article states "Muscle and joint pain characterize the disease.", but pain is not a required symptom for diagnosis in the United States.

Another one: "the CDC in 2011 dismissed an earlier British study that recommended graded exercise and cognitive therapy for M.E. patients." The CDC didn't reject GET/CBT until 2017.

 

I am thinking the first one, NIH Budget, is correct for the US Federal government overall. In 2018, it will be $34B. Yes, the US Government does fund AIDS to the tune of Billions and Billions and Billions. $2-3B is for NIH research. Every year. And for that much money, you would think we would be a LOT further on in treatments/cure. On Table 1 for FY 2013, you will see the $28.8 B number. Care through Medicare/Medicaid gets $20B in 2018 so a large portion of that number is just for care. Several billion is for global research funding. https://www.kff.org/global-health-policy/fact-sheet/u-s-federal-funding-for-hivaids-trends-over-time/

Isn't number 2 correct? Pain is not a required symptom for diagnosis in the US. The CDC page takes you to the SEID criteria (although it does not note SEID but this is the criteria ) which doesn't require pain. But the page notes that pain is often a symptom.

Correct that GET/CBT was not dismissed until 2017. Maybe they meant to state that in 2017 the CDC rejected a 2011 British study.

 

Apologies for my lack of clarity.

The quote from the article is "Muscle and joint pain characterize the disease."

My muddled comment was that the CDC/SEID/IOM criteria do not have pain as a mandatory symptom. Probably should have used a period and not a comma.