Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS)

I co-authored a book on CFS around 1990 when we did not have much data or suspicion of Lyme Disease. The definition of CFS was and is “Greater than 50% debility for over 6 months, WITH NO KNOWN CAUSE. ” The expanded definition included muscle pain and tenderness, swollen glands with fever and malaise, rash, neurologic dysfunction, sore throats and other signs of systemic infection that could all be explained by Lyme infection, as well as many other conditions. Once a legitimate cause is discovered, it is no longer CFS. It is Chronic Fatigue caused by some dccumented infection such as LD, Tuberculosis, tooth or sinus abcess, Urinary tract infection, and of course, bacterial, parasitic or yeast infection of the gut. In our book, “Solving the Puzzle of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome,” Dr. Rosenbaum and I postulated the likelihood of Mixed Infection Syndrome (MIS) which was not accepted widely before the discovery that Lyme Disease often has with it “co-infections” which can be contracted from the same tick as Borrelia (Lyme tick). In those days, Lyme Disease was really under the radar of conventional medicine. Now that we know that much so-called CFS, is really the emerging borrelia bug causing Lyme Disease, we shall be much more effective in dealing with both conditions.