Solve M.E. Chief Executive Officer Oved Amitay and Solve M.E. Research Advisory Council Member Dr. Anthony L. Komaroff (Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School and Senior Physician at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston) recently published an op-ed piece about the urgent need to study the emerging connection between COVID-19 long-haulers and ME/CFS in The Guardian.
An alarming number of COVID-19 survivors report that they continue to experience symptoms for 100 days or more after their initial infection. This group, called “long-haulers,” are developing chronic, debilitating symptoms after infection. This “post-infectious fatigue syndrome” can follow common infections, and the symptoms of post-COVID long haulers can be indistinguishable from those typical of ME/CFS.
In their op-ed, Amitay and Komaroff suggest that the study of COVID-19 long-haulers may shed light on ME/CFS and post-infectious fatigue syndromes following infections other than COVID-19. They advocate for the collection of as much data as possible while we are still in the early phases of the COVID-19 era, and for the passage of bills like H.R. 7057 (The Understanding COVID-19 Subsets and ME/CFS Act) to increase funding for the study of ME/CFS.
“Let’s study the long-haulers now,” Amitay and Komaroff write. “This research could improve care for the millions who have been infected by the COVID-19 coronavirus – and those who already have ME/CFS, as well.”
Read The Guardian op-ed in its entirety here.
Register for our August 27 webinar “Will COVID-19 Lead to ME/CFS in Some People?” by Dr. Anthony L. Komaroff here.
Register for Our August 27 Webinar “Will COVID-19 Lead to ME/CFS in Some People?”
Thu, Aug 27, 2020 10:00 AM – 11:00 AM PDT
Register here.
People with myalgic encephalomyelitis (also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, or ME/CFS) commonly report that an infection preceded their chronic illness. A number of viruses have been implicated as triggers of ME/CFS, including previous coronavirus strains (e.g. the 2003 SARS coronavirus outbreak). Now, as the novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) sweeps the world, experts predict that a significant number of people will develop post-viral problems that could be lifelong. There are already reports that COVID-19 “long-haulers” still have lingering symptoms, even more than 100 days post-infection.
Join Dr. Anthony L. Komaroff for a discussion of what we know so far about the connection between COVID-19 and ME/CFS, questions we should be asking, and the research efforts that are forming in response to this unique opportunity to understand post-viral illness. Ahead of the webinar, be sure to check out Dr. Komaroff’s blog post on the Center for Solutions for ME/CFS website: Will There Be a Post-COVID-19 Form of ME/CFS?
Register here.
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