Here’s something I got in my mailbox today which I thought I’d share here as Ive seen many ask about mother-children CFS links. (its not posting exactly right due to some kind of fault at this site hence why word depression and some other stuff is appearing in that post).
"CFS PHOENIX
PHOENIX RISING: A CFS/FMS NEWSLETTER by Cort Johnson THE 8th IACFS CONFERENCE SPECIAL EDITION
GENES AND GENETICS
Heredity Subsection
T00 CLOSE FOR COMFORT - MOTHERS WITH CFS AND THEIR CHILDREN
Rosemary Underhill and Ruth O’Gorman. Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in the offspring of mothers with CFS.
This study examined how often CFS shows up in the children of mothers with CFS. It found a rather shockingly high rate of either CFS (5.5%) or chronic fatigue (11.5%) in these children. Remarkably 24% of the mothers with CFS had at least one child with CFS or CF. Dr. Underhill noted that these numbers were low as some children will develop CFS as they age. Interestingly, most of the children with CFS were born before their mothers came down with it. This perhaps suggests an infectious component is present (?) That none of the adopted or step children became ill suggested that genetics plays an important role. Recovery rates seemed pretty high with half the children with CFS recovering over time.
Unfortunately I missed this most interesting paper but I was able to listen in on a discussion about it between Dr. Underhill and Dr. Spence. It was clear to Dr. Spence that there was an infectious component to this disease but what he said about the genetic component was fascinating. He said that the offspring of men with CFS don’t get this disease but that the offspring of women with CFS often do. He said this suggests, if I remember correctly, that the genetic predisposition to this disease may be carried in the mitochondrial DNA. The mitochondrial genes are not found in the nucleus of the cell but in the mitochondria and they are passed down through the mother. What an interesting idea given the increasing evidence that the mitochondria are affected in this disease."