Why has ME/CFS Research Stalled for Four Decades?

The troubled history of scientific ineptitude and patient suffering—AMERICA’S BIGGEST COVER-UP: Chapters One & Two

In 1988, I began covering the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Epidemic—now referred to as ME/CFS in government documents and elsewhere—weekly at the New York Native newspaper. In 1992, I drew upon those weekly columns to write a book—America’s Biggest Cover-Up: 50 More Things Everyone Should Know About The Chronic Fatigue Syn­drome Epidemic And Its Link To AIDS. It was published by TNM, Inc., the owner of the New York Native, as well as St. Martin’s Press in New York; in Japanese by Shindan-to-Chiryo, and in French by Les Editions Logique.
          Almost three decades later in 2021, I learned that the British medical journal Healthcare had published a special edition devoted to “severe” and “very severe” ME/CFS. I was stunned by how little progress had been made in the preceding 29 years.
          The 2022 Kindle edition of America’s Biggest Cover-Up: 50 More Things Everyone Should Know About The Chronic Fatigue Syn­drome Epidemic And Its Link To AIDS, Updated 2^nd Edition contained not only…