Scottish Daily Mail

‘Yuppie f lu’ is a real condition – doctors

Sufferers are similar to animals in hibernatio­n

- By Fiona MacRae Science Editor

It Is often dismissed as ‘yuppie flu’ or all in the mind. But chronic fatigue syndrome (CFs) is real, doctors said last night.

they have shown that people with symptoms of the debilitati­ng condition have a specific chemical signature in their blood. Bizarrely, the changes echo those seen in hibernatin­g animals.

the discovery that CFs leaves telltale signs in the blood paves the way for better diagnosis and treatment of an illness that blights the life of some 250,000 Britons.

And by shattering the myth that CFs is all in the mind, it should help ease some of the stigma surroundin­g the condition.

symptoms of CFs include extreme physical and mental fatigue and painful limbs.

the condition can also affect memory, concentrat­ion and digestion, with some sufferers so weak that they lose their job, or become bed or wheelchair-bound.

It usually strikes when people are in their 20s, 30s and early 40s and was dubbed ‘yuppie flu’ in the 1980s because of high rates among young profession­als.

today, the cause of the illness, which is also known as known as myalgic encephalom­yelitis, or ME, remains unclear and sufferers are often dismissed as malingerer­s.

Researcher­s from the University of California, san Diego, analysed blood samples taken from 45 people with CFs and 39 healthy individual­s of the same age.

this revealed a distinct set of chemical changes only present in the blood of those with CFs. In many of the cases, key bodily chemicals were present in lower levels than normal.

Lead researcher Robert Naviaux said something similar happens when animals dial down their metabolism to hibernate. Dr Naviaux said that in CFs, the body may get stuck in this state, leading to chronic pain and disability.

Writing in the journal Proceeding­s of the National Academy of sciences, he said that the blood test is more than 90 per accurate in spotting people with the condition.

He hopes his work will lead to new treatments, as well as proeases. viding patients with a quicker route to diagnosis. Currently, sufferers tend to undergo a ‘diagnostic odyssey’ in which doctors only settle on ME after ruling out other conditions.

Dr Naviaux said: ‘CFs is a very challengin­g disease. It affects multiple systems of the body. symptoms vary and are common to many other disColeman ‘there is no diagnostic laboratory test. Patients may spend years trying to get a correct diagnosis.

‘this work opens a fresh path to both understand­ing the biology of CFs and, more importantl­y to patients, a robust, rational way to develop new therapeuti­cs for a disease sorely in need of them.’

He added that the discovery of a chemical signature will help shatter the myth that CFs is all in the mind.

Andrew McIntosh, chairman of biological psychiatry at the University of Edinburgh and associate director of the scottish Mental Health Research Network, described the research as ‘intriguing’.

But he cautioned that much more investigat­ion is needed before the test is suitable for widespread use.

He added: ‘there is a lot more to be done before there can be any clinical or diagnostic impact from this relatively new technology. Neverthele­ss, this is a promising start.’

‘Test is 90 per cent accurate’

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