Here's some news I haven't seen published anywhere that some reporters might want to look at: The year-end #COVID19 relief bill included an extra $1.15 billion for NIH over 3 years. On a Jan. 11 telecon w/ @ResearchAmerica Larry Tabak of NIH said the funds will be used to... 1/

"...look at post-acute covid syndrome, and that will include the so-called multi-inflammatory syndrome observed in children." So it sounds like the funding will be split between studying #LongCovid & MIS-C. 2/

At the end of December, I asked NIH director's office about this funding, as language in the bill is ambiguous. At that point, they hadn't heard much from Congress about what the money was for but sent me this response. 3/

The advocacy groups that worked to get this funding deserve applause, as do the patients & advocates who have spent the past 4-5 years building personal relationships with key NIH staff. 4/

Those relationships will be important moving forward as NIH decides how to spend this $380m/yr. through 2024. Today, some ME/CFS research groups shared ideas with NIH staff about how to leverage the ME/CFS research infrastructure NIH has built to study long covid. 5/

There is substantial overlap between the two conditions, and no less than Anthony Fauci has stated that #LongCovid appears to be "highly suggestive of myalgic encephalomyelitis & chronic fatigue syndrome." 6/

There are some traits of #LongCovid that fall outside ME/CFS and are specific to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, but this funding is an opportunity to try to understand ALL post-viral syndromes. 7/

Over the past 5 years, NIH has built a network of ME/CFS research centers and, on the Bethesda campus, conducted the deepest biological investigation ever on post-viral ME/CFS. 8/

The first results of that intramural study are in the publication pipeline. I don't know what the results say or when they might be published, but principal investigator Avindra Nath is aiming for top journals so he must think he has something important. 9/

If I were Avi, I would suggest these ME/CFS results could help unravel #LongCovid, but Avi is far smarter than me & I'm sure he's already thought of this. The NIH intramural ME/CFS study, paused for the pandemic, will... 10/

(soon?) enroll #LongCovid patients, who will go through pretty much the same gauntlet of testing that myself & about two dozen other ME/CFS patients have endured. 11/

So this is an exciting time in ME/CFS & #LongCovid research. Generous funding does not guarantee answers for complex illnesses - look at ALS and MS, for instance - but it is necessary to move things ahead. 12/

Also wanted to apologize for a tweet I sent after the covid relief funding bill was passed suggesting the funding was not for long covid. I worded it a little more strongly than I should have & have deleted that tweet. /end