Doctors with M.E. Honorary Fellows and Leadership were quoted extensively in a recent article article about post-viral disease by Christina Frangou. Published in the Guardian, the article has been well received by experts in the field and is entitled“‘I felt betrayed’: how Covid research could help patients living with chronic fatigue syndrome.“
Research into long Covid is in its infancy but, so far, the condition appears remarkably similar to ME/CFS. “Every cloud has its silver lining. For me, the increased focus on post-infectious fatigue syndromes is a silver lining in my mind around the terrible dark cloud that is the pandemic of Covid,” said Anthony Komaroff, professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, during a press briefing.
“Because of that surge in both financial support and talent, I think we’re likely to get some fundamental answers to both long Covid and ME/CFS in the next five years. And by fundamental answers, I mean good diagnostic tests and some effective treatments,” Komaroff. He wants studies to include people with long Covid and those with ME/CFS.
Prof. Anthony Komaroff, Honorary Fellow, Doctors with M.E.
Nina Muirhead, a surgeon in Buckinghamshire, England, said she hoped physicians and other healthcare workers would recognize that long Covid and ME/CFS caused genuine suffering. “This is a real disease and it’s time to stop dismissing patients,” she said.
Dr. Nina Muirhead, Director, Doctors with M.E.
“This idea that people can get cured by exercise and psychotherapy has been the prevailing kind of approach for the last 30 years. It’s based on terrible research and prejudicial ideas,” said David Tuller, senior fellow in public health and journalism at the University of California, Berkeley, Center for Global Public Health.
“Right now, what we’re having is a natural worldwide experiment, in which we’re seeing that many, many people after a viral assault are reporting prolonged, non-specific symptoms, and they’re not crazy. It’s not psychogenic,” said Tuller.
“But I think we’re seeing worldwide that this kind of phenomenon happens and that we shouldn’t be dismissive,” he said.
Dr. David Tuller, Honorary Fellow, Doctors with M.E.
With the many thousands of post-viral complications following covid infections, doctors are realising that anxiety is not the cause and that the challenge is a real disease.
Prof. Anthony Komaroff
Honorary Fellow
Distinguished Professor, Harvard Medical School, Physician at Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston
Dr. David Tuller
Senior Fellow in Public Health in Journalism at the Center of Global Public Health, School of Public Health, University of California, Berkeley
Dr. Nina Muirhead
Director
Dermatology Surgeon, Chair of CFS/ME Research Collaborative Medical Education Working Group, Forward ME representative, Expert Witness, UK National Institute of Health and Care Excellence.