Fatigue syndrome could be caused by household chemicals

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Date: December 3, 2001

URL: <A HREF= " http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_464291.html " >

http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_464291.html</A>

Fatigue syndrome could be caused by household chemicals

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A scientist believes chronic fatigue syndrome could be caused by common

chemicals like head lice treatments and insect repellents.

Professor Mohamed Abou-Donia also says the illness has similar

characteristics to Gulf War syndrome. His tests show chemicals which are

relatively harmless used separately, can become highly toxic to the brain

when used together.

Professor Abou-Donia says governments should consider restricting the

availability of some household chemicals until more is known about their

interaction in the brain and with other substances such as over-the-counter

medicines.

He made his claims at a chronic fatigue syndrome conference in Sydney. The

condition is believed to affect up to one in 250 adults. Professor Abou-Donia

is an expert in pharmacology, cancer biology and neurobiology at Duke

University Medical Centre, reports the Eurekalert website

<A HREF= " http://www.eurekalert.org " >http://www.eurekalert.org</A>

He found rats exposed to an insect repellent and an insecticide suffered

brain cell death " consistent with muscle weakness, joint pain and problems

with the central nervous system " .

He also discovered they were more susceptible to the damage if under stress.

Stress seemed to cause minor breakdown of the blood-brain barrier allowing

chemicals to permeate the brain more easily.

" It seems to me that CFS and Gulf War syndrome have many common

characteristics, " said Professor Abou-Donia.