Disease information

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), also called Myalgic encephalomyelitis is a complex disorder of unknown aetiology that consists of unexplained fatigue of more than 6 months associated with a severe impairment in daily functioning (Moss-Morris, Deary, & Castell, 2013). In addition to fatigue, this disorder is associated with a wide range of symptoms such as muscle pain, headaches, anxiety, depression, sleep disorders and, cognitive disorder.

The pathogenesis of this disease is not well understood (Bjørklund, Dadar, Pen, Chirumbolo, & Aaseth, 2019). People suffering from CFS often have irritable bowel syndrome. A study by Nagy-Szakal et al., 2017 showed that the composition of the gut microbiome was different of people with CFS who also had Irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) from those people with CFS without IBS. While this study does not shed light on the underlying cause of CFS, it provides evidence of gut microbiota dysbiosis in CFS. Nonetheless, how the gut microbiome is associated with CFS remains unclear and needs to be further investigated.