Chronic fatigue syndrome, EU still knows too little and calls for research

Brussels – Fatigue, weakness and a desire to lie down and rest. But also muscle aches, difficulty concentrating, trouble remembering things, not to mention mood swings. In short, chronic fatigue syndrome, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS). Difficult to diagnose, even more complicated to treat. Very little is known about it, only that it is related to neither proven physical nor psychological causes and can drag on for years. It is a problem that would affect two million people in the EU and UK alone, with an economic fallout of €40 billion annually. With all due conditionals, as the disease is complex to recognize and register, and so now the European Commission calls for specific, targeted research.

Health Commissioner Oliver Varhely is calling on the medical-scientific world, academics, and researchers to take advantage of European resources to invest right here: “Horizon Europe (the EU research program, ed.) will continue to offer funding opportunities for research, as the topics of the calls are broad enough to allow for more focused research on ME/CFS.”

Moreover, Varhely explains, in responding to a parliamentary question, that “the Commission recognises the need for solutions to address chronic fatigue syndrome efficiently.” It is precisely for this reason that themes and topics of research calls for the allocation of European funds “have recently been opened” again under Horizon Europe, which in this way “offered researchers in the Me/Cfs area the opportunity to apply for research funding.”

The European Union’s response does not end here because chronic fatigue is also one of the issues plaguing those who have contracted COVID-19. The “long COVID” issue is already a topic of debate and political action, and just like chronic fatigue syndrome, little is known about it. This is precisely why, Varhely continues, “EU-funded projects studying long COVID could also benefit the field” and ME/CFS research.