Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) is a complex, debilitating disorder, yet few current scientific biomedical books are available on the subject. The nonspecific symptoms, lack of diagnostic tests, and uncertainty as to the cause or causes of CFS make the disease that much more baffling. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Biological Approach represents a monumental step in the journey to a unified understanding of CFS and establishes a scientific basis for treatment. The book provides a rare treatise on current state of the art with respect to the worldwide scientifically documented basis of CFS and acknowledges the many as yet undiscovered or undefined pathogenic mechanisms involved in the production of symptoms. The authors, reflecting their clinical and basic research backgrounds, outline future research imperatives and direct clinicians toward appropriate diagnostic and therapeutic strategies. Because of the multifactorial aspects of the disease, the book addresses various fields of the biomedical sciences, such as protein biochemistry, virology, and pharmacology. Many recent, biological discoveries help us better understand the physiology of this disease and improve the specificity of its diagnosis by laboratory tests. This book summarizes these advances and discusses insights that support CFS as a distinct and specific physical disease. Overall, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Biological Approach provides a firm foundation understanding of CFS, opening the way for better diagnosis and design of new therapies