Abstract
Fatigue is the most commonly reported and most debilitating of post-polio sequelae
affecting the >1.8 million North American polio survivors. Post-polio fatigue is characterized
by subjective reports of difficulty with attention, cognition, and maintaining wakefulness.
These symptoms resemble those reported in nearly 2 dozen outbreaks of post-viral fatigue
syndromes (PVFS) that have recurred during this century and that are related clinically,
historically, anatomically, or physiologically to poliovirus infections. This article
reviews recent studies that relate the symptoms of post-polio fatigue and chronic
fatigue syndrome (CFS) to clinically significant deficits on neuropsychologic tests
of attention, histopathologic and neuroradiologic evidence of brain lesions, impaired
activation of the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis, increased prolactin secretion,
and electroencephalogram (EEG) slow-wave activity. A possible common pathophysiology
for post-polio fatigue and CFS, based on the Brain Fatigue Generator Model of PVFS,
and a possibile pharmacotherapy for PVFS based on replacement of depleted brain dopamine,
will be described.
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Article info
Publication history
Published online: August 16, 2004
Footnotes
☆This research was supported by grants from the George A. Ohl, Jr., Infantile Paralysis Foundation
Identification
Copyright
© 1998 Excerpta Medica Inc. Published by Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
