Impressions of the December 2023 NIH/NINDS Research Conference on ME/CFS and Long COVID
International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (IACFS/ME)
Dedicated to the care and research of people affected by Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/Myalgic Encephalomyelitis
By Fred Friedberg, PhD
I recently attended the NIAID-supported 2-day conference “Advancing ME/CFS Research: Identifying Targets for Intervention and Learning from Long COVID.” A most informative meeting! Rather than writing a detailed summary, these are my impressions of the meeting. I was impressed by the scientific firepower of the invited speakers who addressed a range of important biomedical topics. This elevation of expertise is grounded in greater levels of NIH/NINDS funding of $15M today vs. $5M a decade ago. Not nearly enough, but progress nonetheless. Clearly, Long COVID funding played a significant role as well. The welcome influx of new, young researchers (also much in evidence at our IACFS/ME meeting last summer) is due in large part to the emergence of Long Covid initiatives –and is of significant importance.
The “lived experience” portions of the program presented by ME/CFS and Long COVID patients was moving testimony to the life-altering dislocations of these disabling conditions. Selected conference topics included oxidative stress in ME-CFS and Long Covid (Mark Davis), microbiology and immunology of ME/CFS (Ian Lipkin), clinical phenotypes of Long COVID, pathophysiological mechanisms and intervention (Avi Nath), plasma metabolomic analysis in ME/CFS with exercise tolerance testing (Xiaoyu Che), neurovascular dysregulation during exercise in ME/CFS (David Systrom), and epigenetics in ME/CFS and Long COVID pathogenesis (Alain Moreau). Tony Komaroff summarized the highlights of the meeting with his impressive ability to clearly explain complex topics to a general audience.
Overall, a very successful event that demonstrates (to me at least) that ME/CFS and Long COVID can be effectively linked in funded research projects, in clinical care and treatment, and in the challenges of increasing recognition of these difficult illnesses.
If you wish to see the presentations, visit these NIH links.
Day 1 - December 12, 2023
Day 2 - December 13, 2023
#mecfs #longcovid #researchanddevelopment #chronicillness #chronicfatiguesyndrome #myalgicencephalomyelitis