The Why: The Historic ME/CFS Call To Arms

A massive public health crisis that should alarm everyone has been buried for nearly four decades. Since the early 1980s, millions of people around the globe have been stopped in their tracks, their lives seemingly destroyed by a disease so severe it leaves its victims bedridden or housebound for not just years but decades. The evidence points to an infectious virus that has become endemic in the world’s population. Yet--the spread of this disease has been hidden from public view.\nHow could such a thing happen in the late 20th and even the 21st centuries? In 1988, the US Centers for Disease Control buried this pandemic by rebranding the disease “chronic fatigue syndrome.” The correct name, introduced in 1955, was myalgic encephalomyelitis or ME. When a Newsweek headline writer fancifully dubbed the disease “Yuppie Flu,” no one at the CDC intervened to kill the joke. Why would a federal health agency promote such a dangerous, apparently infectious disease as a psychosomatic malady?\nJournalist Hillary Johnson’s The Why: The Historic ME/CFS Call to Arms packs the story of the CDC’s misdeeds and anti-science agenda regarding Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME) into 92 jaw-dropping pages. She describes how the agency botched a critical investigation of a large outbreak in 1985 and, unwilling to change course, proceeded to rename the disease, eagerly characterizing sufferers as hysterics and depressives. For years, the agency either ignored or denigrated important scientific findings being made outside its Atlanta headquarters. CDC scientists also diverted money Congress gave the agency to research the disease to pet projects, then lied to Congress about their progress. Find out "why" in The Why. An important, harrowing story for anyone who wants to protect their own health and the health of their children, spouses, extended family and friends.