In recent years, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) has reached a medical milestone: it’s just about believed.
For decades, the disabling illness (also known as chronic fatigue syndrome/CFS) was maligned within medical education and disbelieved by most doctors. A few dogged researchers tried to substantiate the malady, but their work never dented the pedagogical skepticism.
Little progress was made. Patients remained untreated and doubted.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic descended across the world. Millions died and millions more were left with crippling, unshakable symptoms. Most reported feeling disabled from chronic fatigue. Soon enough, this condition was dubbed
long COVID.
To understand this “new” illness, research studies popped up in multiple countries. Their
findings demonstrated that, in many cases, long COVID was largely indistinguishable from ME.
While long COVID patients are still calling for more substantial, interventional studies to find treatments for their illness, there’s no doubt that the last few years of research has been far more significant than the preceding decades of ME literature. Crucially, the condition is (mostly) accepted by medical professionals.
This recognition has spilled over into ME, finally validating the experiences of countless patients who, for years, have had to manage their illness and the disbelief that surrounded it.
So, does this mean thorough, interventional ME studies are now on the horizon? Possibly. In 2022, the US National Institute of Health (NIH) announced the development of a
ME/CFS Research Roadmap Working Group to identify “research priorities to move the field toward translational studies and clinical trials”.
Two years later, the group is
seeking feedback on its chosen research priorities, which include the nervous system, immune system, metabolism and genomics.
And the NIH group isn’t the only one investigating these areas of interest.
ME Research UK is a UK-based charity that commissions and funds scientific research into the causes, consequences and treatment of ME.
Technology Networks caught up with the charity’s resident Science Writer,
Dr. Emma Slack, to find out what research it’s currently funding and what promising findings have recently been made.
