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A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS
A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients are suffering from prolonged Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome, with characteristics typically found in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). However, no clear pathophysiological explanation, as yet, has been provided. A novel paradig...
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
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Frontiers Media S.A.
2021
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Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8365156/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34408721 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.701419 |
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author | Mackay, Angus |
author_facet | Mackay, Angus |
author_sort | Mackay, Angus |
collection | PubMed |
description | A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients are suffering from prolonged Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome, with characteristics typically found in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). However, no clear pathophysiological explanation, as yet, has been provided. A novel paradigm for a Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome is developed here from a recent unifying model for ME/CFS. Central to its rationale, SARS-CoV-2, in common with the triggers (viral and non-viral) of ME/CFS, is proposed to be a physiologically severe stressor, which could be targeting a stress-integrator, within the brain: the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). It is proposed that inflammatory mediators, released at the site of COVID-19 infection, would be transmitted as stress-signals, via humoral and neural pathways, which overwhelm this stress-center. In genetically susceptible people, an intrinsic stress-threshold is suggested to be exceeded causing ongoing dysfunction to the hypothalamic PVN's complex neurological circuitry. In this compromised state, the hypothalamic PVN might then be hyper-sensitive to a wide range of life's ongoing physiological stressors. This could result in the reported post-exertional malaise episodes and more severe relapses, in common with ME/CFS, that perpetuate an ongoing disease state. When a certain stress-tolerance-level is exceeded, the hypothalamic PVN can become an epicenter for microglia-induced activation and neuroinflammation, affecting the hypothalamus and its proximal limbic system, which would account for the range of reported ME/CFS-like symptoms. A model for Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome is provided to stimulate discussion and critical evaluation. Brain-scanning studies, incorporating increasingly sophisticated imaging technology should enable chronic neuroinflammation to be detected, even at a low level, in the finite detail required, thus helping to test this model, while advancing our understanding of Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome pathophysiology. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-8365156 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2021 |
publisher | Frontiers Media S.A. |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-83651562021-08-17 A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS Mackay, Angus Front Neurol Neurology A significant proportion of COVID-19 patients are suffering from prolonged Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome, with characteristics typically found in Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). However, no clear pathophysiological explanation, as yet, has been provided. A novel paradigm for a Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome is developed here from a recent unifying model for ME/CFS. Central to its rationale, SARS-CoV-2, in common with the triggers (viral and non-viral) of ME/CFS, is proposed to be a physiologically severe stressor, which could be targeting a stress-integrator, within the brain: the hypothalamic paraventricular nucleus (PVN). It is proposed that inflammatory mediators, released at the site of COVID-19 infection, would be transmitted as stress-signals, via humoral and neural pathways, which overwhelm this stress-center. In genetically susceptible people, an intrinsic stress-threshold is suggested to be exceeded causing ongoing dysfunction to the hypothalamic PVN's complex neurological circuitry. In this compromised state, the hypothalamic PVN might then be hyper-sensitive to a wide range of life's ongoing physiological stressors. This could result in the reported post-exertional malaise episodes and more severe relapses, in common with ME/CFS, that perpetuate an ongoing disease state. When a certain stress-tolerance-level is exceeded, the hypothalamic PVN can become an epicenter for microglia-induced activation and neuroinflammation, affecting the hypothalamus and its proximal limbic system, which would account for the range of reported ME/CFS-like symptoms. A model for Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome is provided to stimulate discussion and critical evaluation. Brain-scanning studies, incorporating increasingly sophisticated imaging technology should enable chronic neuroinflammation to be detected, even at a low level, in the finite detail required, thus helping to test this model, while advancing our understanding of Post-COVID-19 Fatigue Syndrome pathophysiology. Frontiers Media S.A. 2021-08-02 /pmc/articles/PMC8365156/ /pubmed/34408721 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.701419 Text en Copyright © 2021 Mackay. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms. |
spellingShingle | Neurology Mackay, Angus A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS |
title | A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS |
title_full | A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS |
title_fullStr | A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS |
title_full_unstemmed | A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS |
title_short | A Paradigm for Post-Covid-19 Fatigue Syndrome Analogous to ME/CFS |
title_sort | paradigm for post-covid-19 fatigue syndrome analogous to me/cfs |
topic | Neurology |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8365156/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/34408721 http://dx.doi.org/10.3389/fneur.2021.701419 |
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