Straus S E
Medical Virology Section, National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
Rev Infect Dis. 1991 Jan-Feb;13 Suppl 1:S2-7. doi: 10.1093/clinids/13.supplement_1.s2.
Chronic fatigue syndrome is not a new medical condition. For centuries its confusing array of features has been attributed to numerous environmental, metabolic, infectious, immunologic, and psychiatric disturbances. This is a review and critique of many of these alternative diagnoses, sufficient to provide a historical background for current thinking about the disorder.