What is ME/CFS?
Affecting up to 20 million people worldwide and affecting more of the population than either Multiple Sclerosis and HIV/AIDS, at present, a diagnosis can only be made based on the exclusion of other diseases. The average level of physical disability is greater than that of Multiple Sclerosis and Rheumatoid arthritis and despite this, there remains no existence of a universal drug target. Current government-backed funding has remained substantially less (£0.4 million per year) than that of Multiple Sclerosis (£2.83 million per year) over many years despite the greater average disability11. The condition remains an unsolved puzzle to medicine.
References
[1] Nacul, L. C., et al., BMC Medicine, 2011
[2] Kingdon. C. C., PharmacoEconomics, 2018
[3] IOM Report SEID, 2015
[4] Science of ME/CFS (page)
[5] International Classification of Diseases, World Health Organisation (1969).
[6] https://www.nice.org.uk/guidance/indevelopment/gid-ng10091
[7] Wessely, S., et al., American Journal of Public Health, 1997
[8] Crawley, E. M., BMJ Open, 2011
[9] Albright, F., et al., BMC Neurology, 2011
[10] Optimum Health Clinic Foundation (2017). Counting The Cost, Technical report, Optimum Health Clinic Foundation
[11] FOI Request, UK Research and Innovation UKRI - 2018-0047
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