NIH Study Aims To Unravel The Illness Known As 'Chronic Fatigue Syndrome'

In July 2012, a science reporter for The Washington Post, Brian Vastag, was in Wisconsin visiting his family when a high fever hit. He became instantly bedridden with flu-like symptoms that never went away.

"It didn't feel like anything I'd ever had before. ... The things that distinguished it were the dizziness and the feeling of unreality in the head," Vastag says.

Now, nearly five years later, the 45-year-old can no longer concentrate or read even a few sentences without becoming exhausted. A short walk to the mailbox means lying down for the rest of the day. In September, he'll qualify for Medicare due to his disability.

That level of severity isn't the picture most people, including doctors, think of when they hear the term "chronic fatigue syndrome." But that was the diagnosis Vastag finally received after 18 months of