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    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of, and finding treatments for, complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia, long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

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  1. Obermann

    Cfs outbreaks explanation

    The tests of Coxsackie viruses that were administered are not described in detail. In the paper on the Royal Free epidemic, it says: "The presence of a vesicular stomatitis in some patients, combined with painful spasm of the muscles of the trunk, was suggestive of a Coxsackie infection, but the...
  2. Obermann

    Cfs outbreaks explanation

    It is possible that there has been an increase in the incidence of ME, but I think that reports from doctors and insurance companies may be biased and simply reflect higher awareness among patients and doctors. It is strange that such a large increase in incidence is not reflected in the number...
  3. Obermann

    Cfs outbreaks explanation

    I think that dr Dowsett's statement of a sevenfold increase in the incidence of ME during the 80s should be interpreted with some caution. She makes that statement in a short article on the webpage of the Hummingbird foundation. There is no epidemiological data to back up her assertion. In the...
  4. Obermann

    Cfs outbreaks explanation

    My comment above was a bit out of sync with other comments because of moderation. I would like to add that the evidence is strong for a pathogen as causal agent to the epidemics of ME, although no such agent has been isolated. Evidence from several epidemics suggest spread by person-to-person...
  5. Obermann

    Cfs outbreaks explanation

    The meaning of the term ME has shifted. ME originally referred to an epidemic disease resembling the early phase of poliomyelitis. The first known epidemic was in Los Angelses 1934. The term (benign) myalgic encephalomyelitis was coined by Donald Acheson in an unsigned editorial in The Lancet...