Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) was defined by the Center for Disease Control as persistent and debilitating fatigue lasting six months or longer. A patient is classified as having Chronic Fatigue and Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) if four or more of the following symptoms are present concurrently with chronic fatigue:

1. Impaired memory or concentration. 2. Sore throat. 3. Tender lymph nodes in the neck and arm pit. 4. Muscle pain.

5. Multi-joint pain. 6. New headaches. 7. Unrefreshing sleep. 8. Post-exertion malaise.

Although this classification of CFIDS is convenient for allopathic physicians who compose their diagnoses utilizing overt signs and symptoms, a holistic-minded physician will find such a textbook definition of the disease unsatisfactory. In many patients, the diagnosis is rendered only after several years of progressive illness, during which the causative underlying dysfunction of body systems, organs, and biochemical processes have been left unattended. A holistic practitioner is likely to emphasize the detection and correction of such dysfunctions, long before the final textbook diagnosis has been reached. The terms CFS and CFIDS, which share many underlying features and causative factors, are viewed by holistic physicians as close relatives that exist on a single continuum, and are therefore used interchangeably in this article.

Recent studies have associated CFS with multiple infectious, environmental, biochemical, nutritional, and emotional stressors acting either alone or in combination. Clinical and laboratory investigations have demonstrated that viruses such as EBV, CMV, HBLV, HTLV, Herpes 6, Herpes 7, and other infectious agents (Mycoplasma lncognitus, Lyme Borreliosis, Babesiosis etc.) that parasitize immune, blood and nervous cells, are strongly implicated with the disorder. These infections can directly influence the neurological and immunological function of an individual, both locally and systemically.

Laboratory tests can easily demonstrate immune dysfunction in CFIDS patients by measuring a decrease in natural killer immune cells (NK) activity and by revealing multiple abnormalities in lymphocyte types and quantity. It is important to detect such abnormalities since these immune cells are protective against a variety of autoimmune diseases, serious viral diseases, and malignancies (cancer), all of which are associated with diminished NK activity. Additional studies have shown that a history of toxic chemical exposure can also result in low NK activity, thereby causing susceptibility to CFS and to multiple infections, autoimmune diseases and cancer.

Our increasingly toxic and stressful environment, our reliance upon synthetic drugs and antibiotics, and our imbalanced, deficient nutrition, have brought forth an alarming increase in severe, incapacitating chronic disorders that were considered rare just 50 years ago. Today, most Americans are either suffering from CFS (in any of its variations) or they know someone who is. The same is true with fibromyalgia, reactive arthritis, Gulf War illness, cancer, and autoimmune disorders such as MS, ALS, Lupus, and others. Many of these chronic conditions are multi-factorial; that is, they may have many causes working in concert. At least a few of these causes should be uncovered and addressed therapeutically in order to help the patient achieve progress. At times, identifying and eliminating just one important cause is all that is needed to improve the overall status of the patient, making the remaining causes more responsive to treatment.

Recently, it has been documented that specific microorganisms may play an important role in the development of CFS and other chronic diseases. For example, Mycoplasma species (cell wall- deficient bacteria that infect lymphocytic immune cells) have been found in 50-60% of CFS patients, 60% of fibromyalgia patients, 45-50% of Gulf War patients, and 40% of arthritis patients. Mycoplasma Fermentans (incognitus) alone has been isolated in one-third of patients suffering from CFIDS and Gulf War patients (reinforcing the notion that these two conditions are practically identical in signs and symptoms).

Systemic Mycoplasma infection can cause any combination of the following symptoms: chronic fatigue, recurrent fevers, night sweats, joint and muscle pain, stomach upsets and cramps, diarrhea, breathing problems, sleep disturbances, sinus congestion/pain, headaches, skin rashes, kidney pain, dizziness, nausea, short-term memory loss, vision problems, hair loss, urination problems, eye pain, heart and thyroid problems, and, in extreme cases, autoimmune-like disorders (these are probably due to the fact that when infectious microorganisms are released from infected cells, they often carry some cell membrane particles with them, leading ultimately to an immune response against both the microorganism and the patient's cells).

Tick-borne diseases often present with very similar symptoms: Lyme disease (Lyme Borreliosis, an infection of lymphocytes, monocytes, and possibly other cells) can cause significant neurological, immune and/or musculoskelatal disorders, including fatigue, malaise, arthritis, headaches, nausea, psychiatric disorders (including depression), myalgia (muscle pain), arthralgia Ooint pain), and even cardiovascular and auto-immune disorders. It has been postulated that many MS patients have been actually suffering from undiagnosed Lyme disease (which may emulate the signs and symptoms of MS). Other tick-borne diseases include Human Ehrlichiosis (Granulocytic or Monocytic), and Babesiosis. These are caused by organisms that are transmitted by the same or similar ticks to the ones that carry Lyme disease.

Highly accurate laboratory tests have been recently developed and made available to physicians by a select laboratories that specialize in the detection of Mycoplasma infection, tick-borne infections, immune dysfunction and viral conditions. These tests are often ignored or forgotten by a majority of practitioners who are used to ordering routine tests that are "liked" by third-party payers. Such routine tests often lack sensitivity -- failing to detect an existing infection ("false-negative"), or they lack specificity -- detecting an infection that doesn't exist ("false-positive"). Thus, staunch adherence to "tradition" and promotion by established "mainstream" laboratories contributes to the formation of clinical bias that often favors ineffective diagnostic modalities.

A case in point is the routinely ordered ELISA IgG/IgM Lyme test, which lacks sensitivity or specificity, and must always be confirmed by a different, more sensitive test. Similarly, chronic pathogenic Mycoplasma infections are difficult to detect by standard antibody evaluation, since the patient's blood specimen rarely contain sufficient antibodies to the elusive organism (Mycoplasma often escapes an immune response by hiding inside lymphocytes). These difficulties cause frequent misdiagnoses of such infections.

Newer tests, including Mycoplasma PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction) test, LUAT (Lyme Urine Antigen Test), and tick-borne disease panels for Ehrlichiosis and Babesiosis, among others, are far more capable in detecting previously undiagnosed infections of the blood, joint fluid, urine or nervous system.

If an infection has been detected, appropriate therapy should be initiated. Targeting the offending microorganism is a crucial component of treatment, even if many months are required to obtain desirable results. Simultaneously, nutritional, biochemical, metabolic, toxic, emotional, and other environmental stressors must be addressed. Most importantly, specific immune-enhancing therapy is imperative, to render the patient's body an unfriendly environment for old or new infection, to reduce symptoms, to prevent progression of the illness to dreadful auto-immune or malignant disease, and to improve the individual's health, well-being, energy level, and productivity.