Trump admin’s attacks on chronic disease research abandons long COVID and ME/CFS patients… Again

Dr. and. Ian Lipkin, Director of the Center for Infection and Immunity at Columbia University, more than two decades in studying a chronic illness that offends its understanding and often misunderstood and stigmatized. Muscle brain inflammation/chronic fatigue syndrome (I/CFS). Lipkin’s work faces an uncertain future after finishing scholarships from the federal government last week, stripping patients with this chronic disease He said that one of the few research sources seeking to understand their condition and find treatments.

the Solution Center for Li/CFS It is one of the few centers throughout the country dedicated to studying this situation, but it is It is no longer possible to operateHe said Lipkin. She was receiving funding from the National Health Institutes, but the Trump administration reduced about $ 250 million from grants to Colombia, which agency He said It happened because of “the ongoing inaction in the face of the constant harassment of Jewish students.”

The center is one of the many efforts to combat chronic diseases caused by the infection affected by the discounts made in the first few months of the Trump administration. in Executive order, President Donald Trump canceled the advisory committee of the Ministry of Health and Humanitarian Services Coveyd longCovid-19 symptoms for several months or even years. Love Many viral diseases, Including hepatitis B, Epstein Bar and “” and “”Long flu“The recovery of Covid does not completely happen – or at all. About 8 % of American adults Ever a student Kofid.

But the Trump administration launched a comprehensive attack on the programs designed to help long patients or search in the condition. The administration is not only Dismantling the Long Research and Practice Office In HHS, the National Health Institutes as well He said it was canceled Some grants that go to long research under the COVID-19 search to enhance the Recover program, though this Chemical and engineering news I mentioned that some of these were already restored.

This week, HHS Robert F. Kennedy Junior also Declare He removed 10,000 jobs in the Health Agency, while HHS He canceled more than $ 12 billion of federal scholarships Used by states in a partial tracking infectious diseases.

The National Technology Institutes and HHS did not respond to the salon request for comment, but Kennedy He said In a video posted to X that the HHS decision was partially taken to make the federal government more efficient and provide taxpayers “nearly two billion dollars a year.”

However, those involved in research affected by these discounts says that they will work as a large fracture in the pursuit of treating treatments to improve the quality of life for patients with long CFS and Covid – none of them are a treatment.

“We have samples from banks that we took from patients who assumed their time and energy,” said Jaimi Selzer, the scientific director of #Meanction, who calls for people who suffer from Me/CFS.

Kennedy Claim He gave priority to “ending the chronic disease epidemic”, and He said He was committed to financing research at Covid Long during the Senate confirmation sessions. Celzer said the recent decisions to reduce long -term support within the federal government seemed to contradict this.

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“It does not seem as if the priority of this administration is a chronic disease because we have made financing for studies on both chronic and sharp disease,” Selser told Salon in an interview on a phone.

Me/CFS affects multiple parts of the body, including brain, immune system and endocrine system. Patients suffer from severe fatigue, distress, cognitive imbalance, and chronic pain. Despite the severity of these symptoms, patients feel behind the medical system, and society has fought for decades to obtain recognition of their condition.

This constellation of symptoms interferes with long length. For one, both conditions are chronic diseases associated with infection that are characterized by severe fatigue. People with long Covid are also in Increase the risk of developing Me/CFS. As one patient with me/CFS and Covid long Salon said In 2023, the symptoms made her feel that she was in a “living dead state”.

Beth Pollack, research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Makkin, said that up to 75 % are very sick to work.

“We look at very severe diseases as there is no [FDA-approved] “Treatments and patients in many cases are left for their motivation for themselves,” Pollac told the salon in an interview over the phone.

The long, long society, which is often referred to as “long transportation”, has struggled to recognize it by the medical community. However, the federal government committed a little more than a million dollars of federal financing to study this situation in 2020 and another $ 515 million in 2024. The federal government also established a long long advisory committee in 2021 to coordinate a national approach to research and policy on the case.

Many patients have been discouraged The financing issued in the Biden administration has not yet led to any successful treatments, and a long Kofid experts Stat News said Last year, federal programs were created in a way to fail. However, many had hoped that the additional financing granted in 2024 would manage things.

Michael Severtz, political advisor for the long research led by the patient, said that the long office had had a real impact, as researchers, patients and policy makers spoke with each other and amplifying patients’ voices.

“They were proactive in communicating with us and obtaining observations, then taking this to their federal colleagues and helping to make changes to programs or helping new programs to develop,” said SieverS Salon in an interview over the phone. “The Long Research Office was in a center [RECOVER] Access to existence. “

Chevrtz said that the federal agencies that recognize the long Covid also helped attract a new generation of young scientists to this field.

“The presence of all that that was thrown into the disturbances is the most disgusting,” said Chevrtz. “It is a new field, so it does not have much basis, and what will be in real danger.”

Although long Covid may have brought some increasing appreciation to the Me/CFS community, the same degree of funding and recognition was not granted to Me/CFS research, which is receive About $ 13 million of federal funding for 25 searches in 2024. This amount decreased since 2021.

Now, a decisive source of ME/CFS has also been reduced, Lipkin said. There were many projects ongoing at the center in Colombia, including studies designed to test the role of genetics in Me/CFS, find vital indicators that can explain clarifications, and track infections to form me/CFS in patients. He said Lipkin personally donates help to help keep a small part of the search standing, but this hardly covers one employee and some supplies.

“A large part of the financing of the National Health Institutes is funded for me/CFS through these centers,” Pollack told Salon in an interview over the phone. “So only one center loss can be a really great result in this field.”

As of 2022, 1.3 % of the US population lived with me/CFS. with Tens of thousands of long infections are still reported weekly In the United States, there will be more long long diagnoses in the population as well. Every time you hunt Covid, too Risk To develop long covid, research It appears over and over again.

“If we do not finish the studies that we have started with the long length, we will return to the beginning again the next time we see a contagious disease like this spread through the population,” said Celzer. She said that long conditions/CFS and Covid are the result of epidemics and epidemics.

Federal financing is responsible for More than half of all academic funding. While the Trump administration said that many of these cuts aim to reduce federal spending and reduce the size of the federal workforce, many The researchers say it is the intersection of scientific research.

“We have these public institutions as public institutions for some reason, and transfer them by launching one out of 10 employees that only destabilize stability,” said Celzer.

Despite this setback, decades -in effect will continue to struggle for recognition and resources for Me/CFS societies and long long societies.

“Researchers and advocates of MECFS have been able to do what is impossible without anything, and we will continue to do so,” said Celzer. “So for all these people who suffer from a long circumambulation there who look at this and feel despair, we were here before and we have continued … We are unlikely to pick up our fingers and find a treatment, but this was always true, and the preachers will continue to fight.”