In this study we examined 10 patients who developed the clinical features of chronic fatigue syndrome several months to 2 years after exposure to organophospates insecticides. These patients were compared and contrasted with 10 patients with postviral fatigue syndrome, 10 patients with a primary depressive illness and 10 healthy controls. All patients were extensively investigated by clinical examination, neurophysiological and immunologic studies, biospsy of muscle, a batery of dynamic hypothalamic test, and the polymerase chain reaction to test for enterovirus in muscle. We found that patients exposed to organophosphated had distubances of  hypothalamic function similar to those in patients with CFS, and some were positive for enterovirus. Two of the patients had developed non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, a finding also reported in other countries studies on humans exposed to pesticides. These observations may help in understanding the pathogenic mehcanisms involved in CFS.

Clinical Infectious Diseases 1994:18 (Suppl 1):S54

Keywords: pesticide exposure lymphoma enterovirus virus pathology cause organophosphate hypothalamic chemical