pretty suspect, but this looks to be similar to other PVFS along the
lines of Kerr's recent study comparing gene expression of CFS patients
to 'Q-fever associated CFS/ME'.
**********************************
'Alarming' Mental Problems Seen in SARS Survivors
December 14, 2009
http://www.worldbulletin.net/news_detail.php?id=51310
NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Many survivors of the severe acute
respiratory syndrome (SARS) pandemic of 2003 suffer from persistent
mental health problems and chronic fatigue years later, new research
from Hong Kong shows.
What's more, these psychiatric problems seemed to become more common
among survivors over time, say Dr. Marco Ho-Bun Lam and colleagues
from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, who call the persistence of
these problems "alarming."
A year after the disease outbreak, Lam and his team note in their
report in the Archives of Internal Medicine, some survivors still had
mental problems even though their physical symptoms had improved.
To look at these effects long-term, and to further investigate chronic
fatigue symptoms often reported by SARS survivors, Lam and his team
looked at 233 SARS survivors an average of 41 months after the study
participants had gotten sick. The study participants' average age was
43 years, and 70 percent were women.
More than 40 percent had "active psychiatric illness" at the time of
follow-up, the researchers found, most commonly post-traumatic stress
disorder, depression, somatoform pain disorder (chronic pain due to
psychological factors), and obsessive-compulsive disorder.
Forty percent reported some degree of chronic fatigue and 27 percent
met diagnostic criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome; people with
fatigue symptoms were also more likely than those without them to have
psychiatric disorders. For comparison, far less than one percent of
Americans met chronic fatigue syndrome criteria, according to the U.S.
Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, although many more than
that have symptoms.
As found in other studies, health care workers were at particularly
high risk of mental health problems; Lam and his team found their risk
was more than tripled.
People who were unemployed at follow-up were nearly five times as
likely to have psychiatric problems, and the risk for people who felt
socially stigmatized was tripled. While these factors could both
increase risk of psychiatric problems and result from these problems,
"our findings suggested that poor functional rehabilitation and
adaptation after SARS were major issues among SARS survivors," the
researchers write.
"Because new infectious diseases are emerging at an unprecedented rate
and pose a global threat for pandemics," Lam and his colleagues
conclude, "there should be better preparation in public health
strategies for dealing with both the acute phase of a disease and the
long-term potential mental health complications."
They conclude: "Various channels to mental health services should be
available to patients, health care workers, and the general public,
not only during the acute phase of a disease but also the aftermath of
an infectious disease outbreak."
SOURCE: Archives of Internal Medicine, December 14/28, 2009.
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