New Blood Test Detects Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

People diagnosed with chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) often experience severe muscle cramps, hair loss, enlargement of lymph nodes and chronic fatigue. This can lead to the overall malfunctioning of several critical body systems. In many cases, detection of this condition at an early stage is not possible, as the symptoms are similar to other conditions like multiple sclerosis and fibromyalgia.

However, Dr Dimitry Pshezhetskiy, a professor at the Norwich Medical School at the University of East Anglia, UK, recently published a study in the Journal of Translational Medicine on the rapid diagnosis of CFS/ME.

The participants in this study included 47 patients with severe CFS/ME and 61 healthy adults. The Oxford Biodynamics Endswitch 3D Genomics Technology was used for the blood test performed on this group. This test assessed the DNA fold inside the cells of the participants.

The study showed that a simple, non-invasive procedure, such as this blood test, could detect CFS/ME in patients in the group with almost 96% accuracy. The test displayed unique patterns of DNA folds in these patients, whereas these fold patterns were not seen in the test conducted on healthy participants.

According to Dr Pshezhetskiy and his team, this test was a far simpler and quicker process for detecting CFS, as doctors didn’t have to conduct many tests to eliminate other conditions before arriving at the final diagnosis.

Doctors and medical authorities worldwide are now awaiting the large-scale implementation of this blood test to authenticate its accuracy before rolling it out as the primary diagnostic procedure for detecting CFS.

Source: Medical News Today