The ME Association's Rosetta Stone study has been featured on the BBC News website with quotes from Prof Danny Altmann, lead researcher for the study and Dr Shepherd MEA Hon. Medical Adviser.
Dr Shepherd has also been interviewed by BBC Three Counties Radio about the 1.1M research study.
Extracts
The three-year study will examine 250 people with ME and 250 with Long Covid, alongside matched healthy groups.
Stool, blood and saliva samples from volunteer participants will be analysed to build “an immunological profile” of both diseases, external., says:
We now know that a significant proportion of people with Long Covid meet the diagnostic criteria for ME. It took an awfully long time for the medical community to pick this up, and recognise these are two overlapping conditions.
It made sense to see what they have in common.
Dr Charles Shepherd, honorary medical adviser at The ME Association
Prof Danny Altmann, from the Department of Immunology and Inflammation at Imperial, says there had been “little research” into the relationship between both “post-infectious, persistent conditions”.
“Millions have had their lives destroyed by the disabilities that come with Long Covid and ME/CFS,” he says.
“We're hoping that our work will make clearer the underlying mechanisms and inform further clinical trials and therapeutics in this area.”
Interview on BBC Three Counties Radio
Dr Charles Shepherd, and ME/CFS patient Tim Goodwin were also interviewed by Andy Collins and Louise Parry on BBC Three Counties Radio.
N.B. The ME Association hopes this new research provides clues into the illnesses that may lead to effective treatments. These treatments have the potential to help both people with ME/CFS and Long Covid to improve their health and quality of life.
Hopefully leading to an improvement in the individual's overall well-being, satisfaction, and enjoyment of life, that may include being able to socialise, maintain family relationships, attend family occasions, offer a degree of independence and for some, may involve undertaking some form of employment.