One thing I'd like #medtwitter to understand about the putative relationship between #LongCovid & #MEcfs is that we *know* that 'LongCovid' starts with #COVID19. Several outbreaks of #ME were never properly investigated http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(56)91252-1/fulltext before being hijacked by psychiatry. https://twitter.com/EricTopol/status/1285582056429285376

Patients from earlier outbreaks- many of whom are getting older- still don't know what got them sick. The different outbreaks may not all have the same cause, options include HHV6, coxsackievirus B4 and/or other enteroviruses. Maybe they interacted with environmental factors.

We've learned from #COVID19 that it can be detectable in some body sites but not others, and that this can shift across time. For example, failure to detect in blood while placenta was positive. And this is with PCR - a method used when you know what you're looking for.

Patients from #MEcfs outbreaks haven't had that kind of testing, even still. Most get a simple blood test that comes back negative and are immediately psychologized. An NIAID scientist theorizes about patients after the 1984-5 Nevada outbreak- an interpretation defended by Fauci.