What the epidemiology of glandular fever might tell us about ME/CFS

[Hutan]

There is quite a lot of evidence that severity of illness is important in the risk of ME/CFS post infection:

I'm not convinced about the idea of a more severe illness being a predictor of ME/CFS.

We haven't seen that with Covid-19. Lots of people seem to get ME/CFS after a mild illness.

I've commented elsewhere that I'm not sure that the Dubbo study authors were right when they drew that conclusion about the correlation with illness severity. There was a gap between illness onset and the first contact with the researchers. So, what they observed possibly was just that people still reporting symptoms 6 weeks or whatever it was after illness onset were more likely to report persisting symptoms at 6 months. The measure of illness severity wasn't hospitalisation.

The example of Peter White that you give is along the same lines. Persisting (ME/CFS) symptoms could make it seem like the acute illness had a long duration, but it doesn't necessarily mean that the infection was a life-threatening one. Illness duration isn't the same as illness intensity.

 

[Mij]

I didn't have severe symptoms during sudden viral onset M.E. even though I had 'extremely' elevated anti-thyroid antibodies. I had positional vertigo for 3 days, grinding gut sensation, and a mild sore throat and ear for several months. I didn't feel well but I was still able to go to school and continue some level of exercise. I didn't have PEM back then.