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Very interesting test.
First diagnostic test for chronic fatigue syndrome identified
Author Hanae Armitage Published on April 29, 2019
For years, chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), has been undetectable by traditional tests that check the function of major organs or examine blood and immune cell counts. For these very sick patients, test results often come back normal, giving doctors few clues on how to proceed.
But now, patients with the devastating disease -- which causes debilitating fatigue, flu-like symptoms and something called post-exertional malaise, a condition that causes any symptoms to worsen after exerting even small amounts of effort -- may find vindication in a newly identified diagnostic test that provides the first scientific evidence of the disease.
A paper describing the research findings appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ron Davis, PhD, professor of biochemistry and of genetics, is the senior author. Rahim Esfandyarpour, PhD, a former Stanford research associate who is now on the faculty of the University of California-Irvine, is the lead author.
When I spoke with Davis, he told me about how his experience as a father who has watched his once-healthy son Whitney decline set him on a new path as a scientist -- to learn as much as he can about ME/CFS. He launched the Stanford Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research Center in 2013...
First diagnostic test for chronic fatigue syndrome identified
Author Hanae Armitage Published on April 29, 2019
For years, chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), has been undetectable by traditional tests that check the function of major organs or examine blood and immune cell counts. For these very sick patients, test results often come back normal, giving doctors few clues on how to proceed.
But now, patients with the devastating disease -- which causes debilitating fatigue, flu-like symptoms and something called post-exertional malaise, a condition that causes any symptoms to worsen after exerting even small amounts of effort -- may find vindication in a newly identified diagnostic test that provides the first scientific evidence of the disease.
A paper describing the research findings appears in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Ron Davis, PhD, professor of biochemistry and of genetics, is the senior author. Rahim Esfandyarpour, PhD, a former Stanford research associate who is now on the faculty of the University of California-Irvine, is the lead author.
When I spoke with Davis, he told me about how his experience as a father who has watched his once-healthy son Whitney decline set him on a new path as a scientist -- to learn as much as he can about ME/CFS. He launched the Stanford Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Research Center in 2013...
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