Sick Building Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

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: Clin Infect Dis. 1994 Jan;18 Suppl 1:S43-8. Related Articles,

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Concurrent sick building syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome:

epidemic neuromyasthenia revisited.

Chester AC, Levine PH.

town University Medical Center, Washington, D.C.

Sick building syndrome (SBS) is usually characterized by upper

respiratory complaints, headache, and mild fatigue. Chronic fatigue

syndrome (CFS) is an illness with defined criteria including extreme

fatigue, sore throat, headache, and neurological symptoms. We

investigated three apparent outbreaks of SBS and observed another

more serious illness (or illnesses), characterized predominantly by

severe fatigue, that was noted by 9 (90%) of the 10 teachers who

frequently used a single conference room at a high school in

Truckee, California; 5 (23%) of the 22 responding teachers in the J

wing of a high school in Elk Grove, California; and 9 (10%) of the

93 responding workers from an office building in Washington, D.C. In

those individuals with severe fatigue, symptoms of mucous membrane

irritation that are characteristic of SBS were noted but also noted

were neurological complaints not typical of SBS but quite

characteristic of CFS. We conclude that CFS is often associated with

SBS.

PMID: 8148452 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?

cmd=Retrieve & db=PubMed & list_uids=8148452 & dopt=Abstract