First of its kind CDC report claims 3.3MILLION Americans have chronic fatigue syndrome for which there is no test, treatment or cure

More Americans than previously thought are suffering from a syndrome that leaves them feeling constantly tired and unable to work, an official report has found.

In the first nationally representative study of its kind, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimated that 3.3million people have symptoms that match ‘chronic fatigue syndrome’ across the US.

The agency said their work highlighted how this was ‘not a rare illness’ and urged doctors to recognize the disease. Previous estimates put the figure at 2.5million.

But many doctors remain skeptical of the poorly-defined illness which is notoriously difficult to diagnose, with some even suggesting that it does not exist.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ( CDC ) estimated the figure for people suffering chronic fatigue syndrome after conducting a survey

The report found women from poor economic backgrounds and rural areas were most likely to say they had chronic fatigue syndrome.

It did not consider weight, but previous studies have found people who are overweight or obese are more likely to be diagnosed with the syndrome.

Patients with chronic fatigue syndrome are diagnosed after suffering from severe exhaustion that does not improve with rest for six months.

Patients say they are so tired they become housebound for days after attending their children’s school or are left needing to sleep in the car after grocery shopping.

Other symptoms include struggling with back pain, brain fog and having trouble getting to sleep.

Doctors say the symptoms are similar to ‘Long Covid’, which has recently been described as ‘greatly exaggerated’ in a major international study.

Like with Long Covid, a cause for this disease has not been pinned down — but doctors say it may be linked to inflammation caused by the immune system.

There is no cure at present and it cannot be easily diagnosed using a blood test or scan.

But treatments may include yoga and stretching as well as massages and deep breathing.

In their survey, the CDC recruited 57,000 adults of all ages and races across the US between 2021 and 2022.

Participants were asked whether they had ever been told they had myalgic encephalomyelitis or chronic fatigue syndrome and whether they still had it.

A total of 1.3 percent answered yes to both questions, the researchers said.

An analysis was then undertaken to calculate the proportion of the US population affected, which gave the result of 3.3million people.

The survey relied on self-reported symptoms and did not ask participants to submit medical records as proof.

Researchers also found the syndrome was more commonly reported in women than in men and people from white and black ethnic backgrounds.

Those from less well off economic backgrounds were also more likely to say they had the syndrome.

Some doctors suggested the study may have actually underestimated the number of people suffering from chronic fatigue because many patients likely do not know they have it.

‘It’s never, in the US, become a clinically popular diagnosis to give because there’s no drugs approved for it,’ said Dr Daniel Clauw from the University of Michigan’s Pain and Fatigue research center.

‘There’s no treatment guidelines for it,’ he added.

Among patients suffering from the syndrome was Hannah Powell, a 26-year-old woman in Utah who went five years before she was diagnosed.

She came down with the illness during a trip to Belize, in Central America, she said, with doctors at first thinking it was malaria.

Ms Powell said she recorded but then developed a persistent exhaustion that left her with trouble sleeping and recurrent vomiting. She had to stop playing sports and had trouble with her schoolwork.

She was eventually treated through regular infusions with fluids and medications.

Ms Powell said: ‘Doctors called me a hypochondriac and said it was just anxiety and depression.’