World ME Day puts the spotlight on the latest guidance for ME/CFS
If you are a health professional, you very likely have patients in your practice who live with debilitating post-viral illness. Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) most commonly occurs after an infection.
This condition affects an estimated 20,000 to 40,000 New Zealanders (estimated at 0.4 to 0.8%). On top of that the number of people with Long COVID is growing and they're looking for help.
So on World ME Day (12th May), the World ME Alliance launches its #LearnFromME campaign. What we have learned from ME/CFS can now guide us in our approach to Long COVID too.
Emeritus Professor Warren Tate and his research team at Otago University have contributed substantially to our improved understanding of post-viral illness.
Tate says “It was exciting to find molecular signatures in the immune cells of ME/CFS patients associated with dysfunctional energy production and showing instability in the epigenetic code that controls precise production of all our proteins, giving a clear indication of the biological basis for the illness. The fact that ME/CFS is so functionally debilitating, and is life-long in most cases, puts huge social and financial burdens on those affected, their families and their communities, and blunts the potential of highly productive people to contribute value to our society”.
Continuing Medical Education for ME/CFS
My Health Hub offers a CME-accredited webinar about ME/CFS for New Zealand health professionals. The webinar is presented by Dr Cathy Stephenson (Clinical Lead - GPEP Southern, RNZCGP) and was recorded in February 2022. It provides a practical approach to the understanding, assessment, and management of ME/CFS. It is eligible for 1 RNZCGP CME credit.
The My Health Hub webinar about ME/CFS covers:
- what we know (and don’t know) about ME/CFS;
- a systematic approach to diagnosis;
- how to support a patient with ME/CFS;
- resources for patients and whanau; and
- where to go to learn more.
A number of other evidence-based CME modules and resources are now available - along with regional HealthPathways - to guide assessment, management and support of ME/CFS.
Most use the IOM 2015 diagnostic criteria adopted by the CDC in 2017.