CONFERENCE REPORTS, RESEARCH NEWS | 28. JUN, 2011
By Jennifer M. Spotila, J.D.
It had been 10 years since the National Institutes of Health (NIH)
last hosted a =93State of the =85=94 meeting on chronic fatigue syndrome
(CFS)(1), and interest in the meeting was high in weeks leading up to
the workshop and during the event. Use of the term ME/CFS in the
workshop title (a first for a U.S. government agency), anticipation
created by the late posting of speakers and topics and the sustained
tensions over XMRV=92s association with CFS generated both heat and
light during the planning process. By the time of the workshop, held
Apr. 7-8, 2011, more than 150 people attended the meeting and more
than 900 viewed the meeting via the live webcast.
This workshop also marked the first time an NIH director addressed a
meeting specifically dedicated to CFS. Dr. Francis Collins spoke at
the conclusion of the second day of the meeting, in spite of the
looming threat of a federal government shut-down. Dr. Collins said
that Secretary of Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius had
directed the NIH and other agencies to give CFS special attention. He
emphasized the need for further definition of the illness,
identification of subsets, and the difficulties caused by lumping many
potential causes together.
The full report can be read here:
http://www.research1st.com/2011/06/28/meeting-summary-mecfs-state-of-the-kn=
owledge-workshop/
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