Mij
Senior Member (Voting Rights)
From the link above:
Moving to Infection Associated Chronic Illnesses
The second NASEM consideration of infection and chronic illnesses, “Toward a Common Research Agenda in Infection-Associated Chronic Illnesses,” was reported in 2024. This workshop focused on the unexplained syndromic illnesses that follow acute infection. These were first recognized simply as the failure to follow the expected recovery from acute infection, resulting in prolonged illness over many years or months. A review in 2022 used the term ‘unexplained post-acute infection syndromes’ while NASEM used the term ‘infection-associated chronic illness’ (IACI), in recognition of the uncertainty about whether the original triggering infection had indeed been cleared, but both terms refer to the same group of syndromic illnesses.
Many viral and non-viral infectious agents are recognized to be associated with these syndromes that have similar symptoms as well as considerable overlap with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a poorly understood multisystemic illness often suspected to have an infectious trigger. The syndromic illnesses following a specific or, in the case of ME/CFS, unknown infection have been challenging to understand. Specific diagnostic tests and treatments have not been identified, leaving both the diagnosis and clinical care to be based on symptoms.
It could be argued that, given the significant symptom overlap between these conditions and failures of the siloed approach, considering these conditions as a whole or including several different conditions as comparison groups may be needed to identify the underlying causal pathways that may be shared.
Moving to Infection Associated Chronic Illnesses
The second NASEM consideration of infection and chronic illnesses, “Toward a Common Research Agenda in Infection-Associated Chronic Illnesses,” was reported in 2024. This workshop focused on the unexplained syndromic illnesses that follow acute infection. These were first recognized simply as the failure to follow the expected recovery from acute infection, resulting in prolonged illness over many years or months. A review in 2022 used the term ‘unexplained post-acute infection syndromes’ while NASEM used the term ‘infection-associated chronic illness’ (IACI), in recognition of the uncertainty about whether the original triggering infection had indeed been cleared, but both terms refer to the same group of syndromic illnesses.
Many viral and non-viral infectious agents are recognized to be associated with these syndromes that have similar symptoms as well as considerable overlap with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), a poorly understood multisystemic illness often suspected to have an infectious trigger. The syndromic illnesses following a specific or, in the case of ME/CFS, unknown infection have been challenging to understand. Specific diagnostic tests and treatments have not been identified, leaving both the diagnosis and clinical care to be based on symptoms.
It could be argued that, given the significant symptom overlap between these conditions and failures of the siloed approach, considering these conditions as a whole or including several different conditions as comparison groups may be needed to identify the underlying causal pathways that may be shared.
