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" Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS), or ME as it&amp;#039;s better known, is more common than previously thought, particularly among 16-year-old girls. One in 40 teenage girls has ME, according to the researchers from the University of Bristol. They looked at the condition in over 5,000 children and found that girls were almost twice as likely as boys to have the condition. This is because ME became more common in girls between 13 and 16 but not in boys. ME is a disabling condition, which has a major impact on the lives of those affected. It causes persistent fatigue, which is not significantly improved by sleep or rest and where there&amp;#039;s marked difficulty in carrying out effort-related tasks. Although well-known for exhaustion, it also has additional symptoms of headache, sore throat and muscle and joint pain.  Researchers said doctors needed to get better at spotting the condition and warned children were missing huge amounts of schoolwork, even causing them to miss more than half a day of school a week. Interestingly, the study found that poor teenagers were more likely to suffer from it, dispelling the commonly held view that ME is a &amp;#039;middle-class&amp;#039; illness or &amp;#039;yuppie-flu&amp;#039;.  Dr Esther Crawley, a paediatrician and senior author of the report, said: &amp;quot;This is an important study because it shows that CFS/ME is much more common in teenagers than previously recognised. Treatment at this age is effective for most children but few have access to treatment in the UK. Children attending my specialist service at the Royal United Hospital in Bath only attend two days a week of school on average. This means that only the most severe cases are getting help. As paediatricians, we need to get better at identifying CFS/ME, particularly in those children from disadvantaged backgrounds who may be less able to access specialist care.&amp;quot;  This study highlights the fact that for a condition affecting such a high proportion of children, it has attracted so little serious enquiry until recently and more education is needed on the severity of the disease. A study by the Association of Young People with ME said that 93% of people experienced disbelief about the condition and were faced with complete ignorance.  Mary-Jane Willows, chief executive of the Association of Young People with ME, said:  &amp;#039;&amp;#039;What we need is more awareness from GPs about this condition, but also acceptance from them as well. In one of our studies, 50 per cent of GPs said they weren&amp;#039;t comfortable with diagnosing ME. And it&amp;#039;s crucial that children get an early diagnosis \u2013 parents say that they are still waiting 3 to 5 years later for a proper diagnosis.&amp;#039;&amp;#039; Only 10% of those diagnosed with ME are currently receiving professional help. If you&amp;#039;re concerned about your child, here&amp;#039;s what to look out for:  utter exhaustion, often to the point of collapse, totally different from &amp;#039;normal&amp;#039; tiredness short term memory or concentration sore throat tender lymph glands in the neck region or under the armpits muscle pain headaches un-refreshing sleep a general feeling of discomfort, illness, or unease whose exact cause is difficult to identify pains in several joints occurring without joint swelling or redness pins and needles sleep problems dizziness   "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/parenting/teenager/news/a26112/more-teenage-girls-have-chronic-fatigue/>