Researchers tested CFS patients, chronic Lyme patients, and healthy controls. They looked at spinal fluid from all three populations and found over 700 unique proteins in the spinal fluid of CFS patients that were not evident in either of the other two groups. They also found close to 700 different proteins in the spinal fluid of the Lyme patients, again unique only to that group.
This study suggests several significant conclusions:
- Chronic Lyme is a unique condition, different than CFS (the symptoms are similar, so the two have been mistaken for each other in the past).
- CFS does have unique biomarkers that could help to diagnosis it more easily and accurately in the future.
- The identification of these proteins could eventually lead to blood-test biomarkers that could serve as diagnostic tools (it isn't practical or safe to use spinal fluid testing - you can't just go around spinal tapping everyone with chronic fatigue).
Rejoice!
5 comments:
That is very interesting! Hope continues:) Thanks for sharing with us.
Hope your day is going well and that the boys are feeling better.
Blessings,
Elaine
This is such good news! Especially since some Belgian doctors have been fined (635,000 EUR) for helping out CFS-patients within the Belgian healthcare system. So much for having a healtcare system!!! Thanks for sharing!
Great news!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I saw this -- great for both CFS & Lyme ... so much for saying it doesn't exist!
Great news after the PACE fiasco of last week. Isn't is amazing how they took the word 'pace' and made it the new buzz-word for anti-pacing?
Yes, I hope they can translate the spinal protein findings into blood biomarkers. I'm not keen on the lumbar puncture option. :P
Take care to you and your family!
D.
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