[Chronic fatigue syndrome]

A great concern is recently given to the chronic fatigue syndrome in the Czech Republic. Unfortunately, published data allow us to state neither the etiologic agent nor the pathophysiology of the disease. Although many authors published various laboratory abnormalities, these changes are inconstant and do not allow to state a diagnosis of the chronic fatigue syndrome by a single laboratory test, and effective therapy is not known either. Psychotherapy, and in some cases antidepressants, are recommended by some authors to alleviate patient's symptoms. Neither immunological nor antiviral therapy showed positive results in controlled trials and are not generally used in most centers.