[Congressional Record Volume 143, Number 61 (Monday, May 12, 1997)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Page E893]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]

[[Page E893]]

INTERNATIONAL CHRONIC FATIGUE AND IMMUNE DYSFUNCTION SYNDROME AWARENESS 
                                  DAY

                                 ______
                                 

                         HON. MICHAEL P. FORBES

                              of new york

                    in the house of representatives

                          Monday, May 12, 1997

  Mr. FORBES. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to ask my colleagues to join me 
in recognizing May 12, 1997, as International Chronic Fatigue Immune 
Dysfunction Syndrome [CFIDS] Awareness Day. We recognize the need to 
raise public awareness of this debilitating, yet still largely ignored 
disease that medical experts believe strikes an estimated 2 to 3 
million Americans.
  Over the past 2 years, I have met many times with the CFIDS patients, 
many of whom are waging a valiant battle to direct more public 
attention and resources toward the search for a cure. It is absolutely 
heartbreaking to see our parents, neighbors, spouses, and children, or 
anyone suffer through the enduring pain and pervasive weakness of 
CFIDS. To see vibrant, energetic people stricken with a mysterious 
ailment that medical professionals cannot cure and others do not 
understand is both sad and confounding.
  Currently, there are relatively few treatments for this terrible 
disease, and those that doctors do employ have marginal effectiveness. 
For reasons that researchers do not understand, Chronic Fatigue 
Syndrome is diagnosed mostly in white women, typically in their 
thirties, though a growing number of children appear to have CFIDS and 
more men are also being diagnosed. In my home area of eastern Long 
Island, this cruel disease has stricken a disproportionately high 
number of people. Experts say an estimated 2,000 cases of Chronic 
Fatigue Syndrome have been diagnosed throughout Suffolk County. I am 
committed to supporting every effort to eradicate this horrible malady, 
and helping those who suffer its disabling wrath.
  The sad fact is that doctors and scientists have few answers to this 
puzzling disease. Though still often treated as depression, researchers 
have unearthed evidence of subtle abnormalities in the immune systems 
of CFIDS sufferers. This has led to widely held consensus that Chronic 
Fatigue is the manifestation of an immune system that has turned on the 
body that it is supposed to protect.
  The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has assured 
me that it is also committed to supporting research that will lead to 
the discovery of the cause of CFIDS. Just as importantly, we must 
emphasize the need to develop effective methods for diagnosing, 
treating, and preventing this crippling disorder.
  Mr. Speaker, I ask my colleagues in the House of Representatives to 
join me in recognizing International Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction 
Syndrome [CFIDS] Awareness Day on May 12. Only through raising 
recognition of this mysterious ailment can we hope to discover a cure 
and attain some measure of relief for those who are caught in its 
debilitating grip.

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