First official death from CFS
 From: AEHA QUEBEC <aehaq@aeha-quebec.ca>
 To: aehaq@aeha-quebec.ca
 
Source: New ScientistDate: June 15, 2006
Author: Rowan Hooper
URL: http://www.newscien
<http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn9342&feedId=health_rss20>
tist.com/article.ns?id=dn9342&feedId=health_rss20

First official death from chronic fatigue syndrome
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Chronic fatigue syndrome has been given as an official cause of death -
apparently for the first time in the world.

On Tuesday, coroner Veronica Hamilton-Deeley of Brighton and Hove
Coroners Court, UK, recorded the cause of death of a 32-year-old woman
as acute aneuric renal failure (failure to produce urine) due to
dehydration as a result of CFS.
The deceased woman, Sophia Mirza, had suffered from CFS for six years.

CFS, which is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), has a
variety of devastating symptoms ranging from extreme weakness, inability
to concentrate and persistent headache. Sufferers can have the disease
for years, but its cause remains controversial, with fiercely opposing
views from psychiatrists on one side and biologically minded physicians
on the other.

The coroner's verdict is a breakthrough for those who argue that CFS is
a physical condition, possibly with its roots in the immune system.
Dominic O'Donovan, a neuropathologist at Oldchurch Hospital in Romford,
UK, who gave evidence at the inquest, said that Sophia's spinal cord
showed inflammation caused by dorsal root ganglionitis - a clear
physical manifestation of the disease.

Overactive immune response

CFS specialist Jonathan Kerr of St George's, University of London, says
he's not surprised that inflammation in the spinal cord has been found
in someone with the disease, as it is known to be associated with it. He
says that the immune system tends to be over-activated in people with
CFS and this may underlie the inflammation of the neurological tissue.

'People have been reluctant to subscribe to the biological side because
of the power of the psychiatric lobby,' says Kerr. 'Doctors are
sceptical about the existence of CFS and there is controversy about its
underlying cause.'

Abhijit Chaudhuri, a consultant neurologist at the Essex Centre of
Neurological Science who worked with O'Donovan on Sophia's case, says
the changes to her spinal cord may have resulted in symptoms of chronic
fatigue.

'Sophia's case sheds light on CFS because there were changes in her
dorsal ganglia - the gatekeepers to sensation in the brain - and we know
that fatigue depends on sensory perception,' he says. 'What we need to
understand is what happens that makes fatigue more persistent, without
there being an obvious systemic disturbance.'

Rigorous inquest

The inquest was rigorous, Chaudhuri says, and considered all other
potential causes of death consistent with the post-mortem results, such
as sleep apnoea and drug use, and rejected them.

The verdict was welcomed by Sophia's mother, Criona Wilson, who had to
fight for recognition that her daughter was physically - rather than
mentally - ill. Sophia was sectioned for two weeks under the Mental
Health Act in 2003.

'I'm extremely pleased that CFS/ME was identified on the death
certificate as one of the primary causes of Sophia's death,' she says,
'because this can be used to reinforce the need for biomedical research
into the disease.'

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(c) 2006 Reed Business Ltd.