CDC to Study Chronic Disease Syndrome

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CDC to Study Chronic Disease Syndrome Wed Apr 27, 8:57 PM ET

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ATLANTA - The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has

started a telephone survey to identify the extent of chronic disease

syndrome in Georgia.

The survey will allow the federal health agency to estimate the

extent the syndrome in Georgia and in the United States, the agency

said in a statement.

About 800,000 people in the United States have chronic disease

syndrome or similar illnesses. Minorities and people with low

incomes appear to be affected by the syndrome more often than

others, the CDC said.

The survey will interview 17,000 randomly selected households in

Georgia. More detailed interviews will be conducted to those who

have the syndrome's symptoms, which includes a severe and

debilitating fatigue, and those who appear to have the illness will

be given free medical and lab evaluations.

Residents of DeKalb, Fulton, Bibb, Houston, Baldwin, Bleckley,

Crawford, , Macon, Monroe, Peach, Twiggs and Wilkinson counties

will be interviewed for the study.

The CDC first started researching chronic disease syndrome two

decades ago after investigating an outbreak of an unknown illness

characterized by debilitating fatigue among residents of Incline

Village, Nev. The agency has conducted a series of studies on CFS

since 1988. The cause of CFS remains unknown, the CDC said.

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On the Net:

CDC info: http://www.cdc.gov