{"id":35221,"date":"2022-05-12T10:02:52","date_gmt":"2022-05-12T09:02:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/?p=35221"},"modified":"2022-05-12T13:34:47","modified_gmt":"2022-05-12T12:34:47","slug":"world-me-day-2022-could-31000-people-in-wales-have-me-cfs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wames.org.uk\/cms-english\/world-me-day-2022-could-31000-people-in-wales-have-me-cfs\/","title":{"rendered":"World ME Day 2022 – Could 31,000 people in Wales have ME\/CFS?"},"content":{"rendered":"

World ME Day – 12 May 2022 – a time to #LearnFromME and #ImplementNICEmecfs<\/strong><\/h2>\n

 <\/p>\n

Could 31,000 people in Wales have ME?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"\"The chances are high that you know someone with a post-viral illness. Pre-pandemic an estimated 13,000<\/strong><\/span> people in Wales had Myalgic Encephalomelitis (ME), making ME one of the largest neurological patient communities in the country. COVID-19 could increase that number to 31,000.<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

Most people with ME remember having a virus. Some were really ill and never fully recovered. Others recovered from the virus after a few weeks, only to collapse again later. Many cannot identify the virus they had, or, like some with COVID, hardly noticed a virus had infected them, but others were tested and given confirmation of a variety of infections e.g. Epstein Barr, Herpes, enteroviruses, Park virus B19 or the previous coronavirus, sars-cov-2.<\/p>\n

\"\"COVID is also a trigger for ME\/CFS. Researchers estimate<\/a> that 25% of people who experienced ongoing symptoms following the previous COVID outbreak, SARS-CoV, met the criteria for ME.\u00a0 46% with long COVID today could develop ME, say US researchers.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n

According to figures gathered by the ONS<\/a>:<\/p>\n

88,760 people in Wales have long COVID
\n39,015 people have been ill for 1 year+
\n11,540 have been ill for 2 years+<\/p>\n

If the predictions are correct, up to 18,000 people could have joined the ME community in Wales, bringing the patient population to an estimated 31,000 people.<\/strong><\/p>\n

WAMES has been campaigning for decades for safe, empathetic & equitable healthcare and with the new focus on post-viral illness there is a real opportunity now for NHS Wales to end the \u2018health and social care crisis\u2018 for people with ME\/CFS in Wales.<\/p>\n

WAMES is therefore asking the NHS and health professionals in Wales not to delay any\u00a0longer<\/strong><\/a>:<\/p>\n