| kathleen 2005-04-28, 8:49 am |
| CDC to study chronic fatigue syndrome in Georgia
Associated Press
Published on: 04/27/05
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has started a telephone
survey to identify the extent of chronic fatigue syndrome in Georgia.
The survey will allow the federal health agency to estimate the extent
the syndrome in Georgia and in the United States, the agency said in a
statement.
About 800,000 people in the United States have chronic fatigue syndrome
or similar illnesses. Minorities and people with low incomes appear to
be affected by the syndrome more often than others, the CDC said.
The survey will interview 17,000 randomly selected households in
Georgia. More detailed interviews will be conducted to those who have
the syndrome's symptoms, which includes a severe and dehabilitating
fatigue, and those who appear to have the illness will be given free
medical and lab evaluations.
Residents of DeKalb, Fulton, Bibb, Houston, Baldwin, Bleckley,
Crawford, Jones, Macon, Monroe, Peach, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties
will be interviewed for the study.
The CDC first started researching chronic fatigue syndrome two decades
ago after investigating an outbreak of an unknown illness characterized
by debilitating fatigue among residents of Incline Village, Nev. The
agency has conducted a series of studies on CFS since 1988. The cause
of CFS remains unknown, the CDC said.
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