Author: Stephen Johnson / Source: Big Think
- Chronic fatigue syndrome affects millions of people worldwide, but scientists still aren’t quite sure what causes it.
- A new study tracked people suffering from Hepatitis C (HCV) as they underwent a treatment course.
- The results showed that people with overactive immune responses developed chronic fatigue months following the treatment, and that the fatigue persisted even after their immune responses returned to normal.
A new study builds upon previous research showing that an overactive immune system might be a key cause of chronic fatigue syndrome.
Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), is a debilitating condition that leaves people feeling always tired and mentally foggy. Worse, sleep doesn’t really help to alleviate the symptoms of CFS, which affects some 17 million people worldwide.
The causes of CFS remain unknown. In recent years, however, research has suggested that an overactive immune system might be to blame. But that hypothesis has been difficult to study because it’s impossible to tell who’s going to contract a virus, and researchers need to examine physiological conditions before, during and after an immune response occurs.
A recent study — it was published in the journal Psychoneuroendocrinology on December 17 — used a novel approach to get around that problem. Researchers at King’s College London recruited 55 patients with chronic Hepatitis C (HCV)…
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