The biological challenge of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a solvable problem

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is comparable to multiple sclerosis, diabetes or rheumatoid arthritis in prevalence (∼0.2% to 1%), long-term disability, and quality of life,[1–5] yet the scale of biomedical research and funding has been pitifully limited, as the recent National Institutes of Health (NIH) and Institute of Medicine reports highlight.[6,7] Recently in the USA, NIH Director Francis Collins has stated that the NIH will be ramping up its efforts and levels of funding for ME/CFS,[8] which we hope will greatly increase the interest in, and resources for researching this illness. Despite scant funding to date, researchers in the field have generated promising leads that throw light on this previously baffling illness. We suggest the key elements of a concerted research programme and call on the wider biomedical research community to actively target this condition.