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Jewish World Review /Jan. 20, 1999 / 3 Shevat, 5759
J. Gruener
ALLERGIES TO FOODS, PLANTS OR ANIMALS could cause chronic fatigue
syndrome (CFS) in some people, according to a National Jewish Medical
and Research Center physician who treats people with the disorder.
"A number of the CFS patients said they feel worse when they
have allergies," said James Jones, M.D., who recently completed a CFS
study looking at four groups of people--one with CFS, one with
allergies, one with depression and a control group.
The study was
published in a recent issue of the Journal of Allergy and Clinical
Immunology. Dr. Jones recently began studying 120 people in a
three-year, $900,000 study funded by the National Institutes of Health
(NIH).
Researchers have looked at a number of chemical changes in the body as a
signal of CFS, but Dr. Jones found that "the only consistent finding is
allergy." Seventy-five percent of people with CFS have allergies; 10 to
20 percent of the general population have allergies.
A chemical change that occurs during virus infections and allergy
attacks is the production of several types of cytokines, including
interferon alpha and tumor necrosis factor. These chemicals trigger and
coordinate the immune response, allowing killing of virus-infected cells
and protection of uninfected cells. Their role in allergies is less
clear. The process causes inflammation of tissue, tiredness and body
aches.
"CFS and allergy patients produced the same mediators of inflammation,
such as interferon and tumor necrosis factor," he said. "Allergens,
therefore, may contribute to production of CFS symptoms."
The three-year NIH-funded study explores the extent that exercise and
allergies impact people with CFS. In the CFS group, half have allergies
and half don't. In the control group, half have allergies and half
don't.
The study will "challenge" people with CFS in several ways, Dr. Jones
said. People enrolled in the study will use an exercise bike, inhale an
allergen they are known to be sensitive to and receive histamine, which
causes allergy-like feelings of a stuffy head and runny nose. Following
exercise, many people with CFS complain of symptoms.
These symptoms are similar to those people experience with a cold or the
flu, but "what's peculiar in these people is that it lasts for a long
period of time," Dr. Jones
Allergies to Foods, Plants, and Animals May Predict Chronic Fatigue
Syndrome in Some People
CFS is defined as six months of fatigue that interferes with daily
functioning with no other disease being identified. (Depending on the
way CFS is defined, between 13 and 300 people in every 100,000 have the
disease.) Symptoms include swollen lymph nodes, sore throat, muscle and
joint aches, cognitive problems, headaches and sleep difficulties
followed by an increase of symptoms 24 hours after exercise.
