The Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Controversy

Excerpt

To the Editors: Buchwald and colleagues (1) conclude that the chronic fatigue observed in their patients may reflect an immunologically mediated inflammatory process of the central nervous system and may be associated with human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6). The authors, however, failed to consider organic causes of chronic fatigue for analysis as a separate category and referred to neurologic symptoms without specifying diagnostic criteria. The study also lacked appropriate controls; this was not a cohort study with matched controls, as stated in the abstract, but a case series with variously selected nonmatched controls. Controls were not characterized, and each major comparison