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The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) CDC Resource Center

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The CDC’s CFS prgram has played a major role in how this disorder is viewed and treated

Search ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ on the internet and you’ll see the CDC at the top of the list. No program has made more of a difference in how chronic fatigue syndrome is treated or viewed.

A General Accounting Office (GAO) in the late 1990’s found the CDC misappropriated almost 60% of the funds specified for ME/CFS  into other research fields. The GAO investigation, the creation of the much disliked name,  two problematic definitions,  (Fukuda /Empirical) and a ‘Toolkit’ that provides few treatment options for doctors, has left the CDC program a lightning-rod for criticism from  ME/CFS professionals and patients.

Perceived as something of a ‘rogue’ organization  under Dr. Reeves with little interest in other research efforts,  the programs new chief, Elizabeth Unger, brought a breath of fresh air in 2011 as she engaged ME/CFS researchers and physicians in several collaborative efforts.

Dr. Unger faces challenges rebuilding the programs relevance in the research field, redoing a Treatment ‘Toolkit’ which provides few treatment options for patients and doctors, and revitalizing a program that receives little internal support. The program, tasked with research into the causes and epidemiology of ME/CFS, treatment and physician education remains severely underfunded.

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