The debilitating condition once derided as ‘yuppie flu’ is a genuine illness, researchers say.

Controversy has raged for nearly 30 years as to whether the symptoms of chronic fatigue syndrome are real or all in the mind.

Now a study shows the condition, also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME, does trigger a distinctive immune response in the body.

The discovery paves the way for treatments that, given early enough, could prevent years of ill health.

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Researchers say chronic fatigue syndrome, the debilitating condition once derided as ‘yuppie flu’, is a genuine illness. File photo

It should also help ease the stigma that has led to sufferers being dismissed as malingerers who imagine their symptoms.

ME affects some 250,000 Britons and is more common in women than men. It was called ‘yuppie flu’ in the 1980s because sufferers tend to be aged between 20 and 40 and the illness was most frequently seen among professional people.

Symptoms include extreme physical and mental fatigue and painful limbs. The condition can also affect memory, concentration and digestion, with some sufferers left so weak that they lose their job or become bed or wheelchair-bound. But with the cause unclear, scepticism has remained as to whether it is a physical illness or merely psychological.

I FEARED FOR CAREER SAYS ROYAL HARPIST CLAIRE JONES HIT BY ME Fighting back: Harpist Claire Jones was bed-bound for three months By Rebecca English, Royal Correspondent for the Daily Mail Just when she seemed to have the world at her feet – or at least her fingertips – musician Claire Jones was struck down with ME. Two years after playing for Prince William and Kate at their wedding reception and months after topping the classical album charts, the harpist began to suffer ‘bone-sapping’ fatigue. She dismissed her symptoms as temporary exhaustion caused by her hectic schedule but in May 2013 developed excruciating pain throughout her body. She also suffered migraines, dizziness and digestion problems. But doctors merely gave her painkillers and told her to rest. In desperation her husband, fellow musician Chris Marshall – whom she had married the previous year – took her to A&E, where Miss Jones suffered a seizure. Fortunately she was seen by a sympathetic consultant who diagnosed ME. She returned to her family home in Wales to be nursed by her mother. ‘My tiredness and pain was so bad that I couldn’t even wash and was bed-bound for three months,’ the 30-year-old said yesterday. ‘It was like being a child again.’ She feared she may never play the harp again but after a regime that included changing her diet and taking up yoga, she is on the mend and has just released an album, Journey: Harp To Soothe The Soul, containing many of the songs that helped in her recovery. Advertisement

The researchers, from Columbia University in New York, analysed hundreds of blood samples taken from ME patients and healthy people. The blood from those with ME showed a distinct ‘chemical signature’.

It had higher levels of various compounds released by the immune system to defend the body against infection. The link with an immune protein, interferon gamma, was particularly strong, the journal Science Advances reports.

Interferon gamma is blamed for the extreme tiredness that follows some viral infections and has also been linked to problems with memory.

The finding may help researchers develop the first diagnostic test for ME. It also raises hope of better treatments. Drugs that lower levels of some of the immune proteins already exist.

‘This study delivers what has eluded us for so long: unequivocal evidence of immunological dysfunction in ME and diagnostic biomarkers for disease,’ said researcher Dr Ian Lipkin.

Lead author Dr Mady Hornig said: ‘We now have evidence confirming what millions with this disease already know, that ME isn’t psychological.’

However, the work is still preliminary and many questions remain to be answered, including why the chemical markers show up only in the blood of patients in the relatively early stages of ME.

Dr Hornig’s team is now looking for signs of the infection that triggered the immune response. Scientists have long thought a virus is to blame but have failed to find the culprit.

Dr Neil Abbot, of ME Research UK said: ‘A biological signature or thumbprint for ME is the holy grail – it’s what we all want to see. If the immune changes reported in the study can help, it would be a great step forward.’

The finding that the chemical signature is seen only in the first stages of ME shows the importance of early diagnosis and treatment, he added.

Sonya Chowdhury, of Action for ME, said the work ‘could have significant implications for quicker diagnosis and improved treatments’.