David Sheffield Bell Explained

David Sheffield Bell is an American physician who has done extensive research on the clinical aspects of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). He has also conducted evaluations and research in pediatric ME/CFS and written numerous articles about the condition.

Bell is retired from a private practice in general medicine in the town of Lyndonville, New York which he had started in 1979.^[1] Bell also served as Clinical Associate Professor of Pediatrics at the State University of New York at Buffalo, in Buffalo, New York.^[2]

Training

Bell is a graduate of Harvard University, class of 1967, with an AB degree in English Literature. He graduated in 1971 from Boston University with an MD degree, and in 1976 completed post-doctoral training in pediatrics including Pediatric Behavior and Developmental Disorders.^{[3] [4]}

Work on ME/CFS

Bell's interest in ME/CFS began in 1985 when an apparent cluster outbreak of 216 persons occurred in his rural community in upstate New York. He has written extensively on the condition, including a thirteen-year follow-up study of the children who became ill during the original outbreak.^{[5] [6]}

Bell was involved in identifying the outbreak in Lyndonville, New York, of what was known at the time as chronic Epstein-Barr virus (now more commonly referred to as ME/CFS).^[1] When Bell was interviewed about the outbreak in a 1996 Prime Time Live episode, the reporter described Bell's appeal to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) for help with the illness, but Bell says the CDC didn't mention a similar outbreak in Lake Tahoe, which he learned about later. He met with other ME/CFS researchers at a 1987 conference, and joined an investigation with researchers Paul Cheney and Elaine DeFreitas involving a possible retrovirus association with chronic fatigue syndrome. In 1990, the researchers presented evidence they found DNA sequences very similar to a known human retrovirus in some ME/CFS patients, at a conference in Kyoto, Japan.^{[7] [8]} Their study was later published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.^[9] A reporter on Prime Time Live stated the announcement made headlines all over the world. The CDC first ignored their findings,^[10] then later conducted a study and published a paper that refuted the hypothesis.^[11]

Bell wrote The Doctor's Guide to Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, which was published in 1995. The book, which also refers to ME/CFS as "chronic fatigue/immune dysfunction syndrome," or CFIDS, describes Bell's CFIDS disability scale.^[12] Various publications have used or proposed Bell's scale which is similar to the Karnofsky scale, for the documentation of severity of symptoms in chronic fatigue syndrome.^{[13] [14] [15] [16]}

In the 2000 ME/CFS documentary, I Remember Me, Bell appeared in an interview recounting his experiences during the Lyndonville outbreak.^{[17] [18]}

In 2003, Secretary of Health and Human Services Tommy Thompson designated Bell chairperson of the Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee (CFSAC), a panel of 11 experts that provides advice and recommendations to the Secretary of Health and Human Services "on the development and implementation of programs to inform the public; health care professionals; and the biomedical, academic, and research communities about advances related to CFS."^{[19] [20] [21]}

Bell also served as a board member of the International Association for Chronic Fatigue Syndrome/ME (IACFS/ME),^[22] a professional organization of about 300 members that advocates for the concerns of CFS researchers and clinicians around the world.^[23]

Bell has retired from private practice, but in 2011 was still doing research on the cause of the illness of ME/CFS patients in Lyndonville NY.^[24]

Bell currently serves on the Open Medicine Foundation Scientific Advisory Board, which is committed to ending ME/CFS.^[25]

Further reading

• Be sure to distinguish CFS from depression, Clinical Psychiatry News, April 1, 2005, Volume: 33 Issue: 4 Page: 14(1)
• Stewart CC, Cookfair DL, Hovey KM, Wende KE, Bell DS, Warner CL . Predictive immunophenotypes: disease-related profile in chronic fatigue syndrome . Cytometry Part B . 53 . 1 . 26–33 . May 2003 . 12717688 . 10.1002/cyto.b.10034 . free .
• Gerrity TR, Bates J, Bell DS . Chronic fatigue syndrome: what role does the autonomic nervous system play in the pathophysiology of this complex illness? . Neuroimmunomodulation . 10 . 3 . 134–41 . 2002 . 12481153 . 10.1159/000067176. 2764121 . etal.
• Ash-Bernal R, Wall C, Komaroff AL . Vestibular function test anomalies in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome . Acta Otolaryngol. . 115 . 1 . 9–17 . January 1995 . 7762393 . 10.3109/00016489509133339. etal.
• Bell DS, Bell KM, Cheney PR . Primary juvenile fibromyalgia syndrome and chronic fatigue syndrome in adolescents . Clin. Infect. Dis. . 18 . S21–3 . January 1994 . Suppl 1 . 8148447 . 10.1093/clinids/18.supplement_1.s21.
• Bell KM, Cookfair D, Bell DS, Reese P, Cooper L . Risk factors associated with chronic fatigue syndrome in a cluster of pediatric cases . Rev. Infect. Dis. . 13 . S32–8 . 1991 . Suppl 1 . 2020801 . 10.1093/clinids/13.supplement_1.s32.
• Bell DS, Jordan K, Robinson M . Thirteen-year follow-up of children and adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome . Pediatrics . 107 . 5 . 994–8 . May 2001 . 11331676 . 10.1542/peds.107.5.994. 10.1.1.612.5480 .
• DeFreitas E, Hilliard B, Cheney PR . Retroviral sequences related to human T-lymphotropic virus type II in patients with chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 88 . 7 . 2922–6 . April 1991 . 1672770 . 51352 . 10.1073/pnas.88.7.2922. etal. 1991PNAS...88.2922D . free .
• Streeten DH, Thomas D, Bell DS . The roles of orthostatic hypotension, orthostatic tachycardia, and subnormal erythrocyte volume in the pathogenesis of the chronic fatigue syndrome . Am. J. Med. Sci. . 320 . 1 . 1–8 . July 2000 . 10910366 . 10.1097/00000441-200007000-00001.

Notes and References

1. News: Hager . Mary . Joseph . Nadine . Chronic Fatigue Syndrome A Modern Medical Mystery . Newsweek . November 12, 1990 .
2. Jason L. . A Pediatric Case Definition for Myalgic Encephalomyelitis and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome . Journal of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome . 13 . 2/3 . 1–44 . May 2006 . 10.1300/J092v13n02_01. etal. 10.1.1.516.4887 .
3. Web site: About David S. Bell. 2009-01-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20081209051612/http://www.davidsbell.com/DSBAbout.htm. 2008-12-09. dead.
4. Web site: Faculty Biographies. International Association for CFS/ME. 2009-05-09. https://web.archive.org/web/20110726164623/http://www.iacfsme.org/FacultyBiographies/tabid/146/Default.aspx. 2011-07-26. dead.
5. Web site: David S. Bell, M.D. . International Association for CFS/ME . 2009-01-11 . https://web.archive.org/web/20090523045246/http://www.iacfsme.org/DavidSBellMD/tabid/131/Default.aspx . 2009-05-23 . dead .
6. Bell DS, Jordan K, Robinson M . Thirteen-year follow-up of children and adolescents with chronic fatigue syndrome . Pediatrics . 107 . 5 . 994–8 . May 2001 . 11331676 . 10.1542/peds.107.5.994. 10.1.1.612.5480 .
7. Palca J . Does a retrovirus explain fatigue syndrome puzzle? . Science . 249 . 4974 . 1240–12 . 14 September 1990 . 10.1126/science.2399461 . 2399461. 1990Sci...249.1240P .
8. News: Altman . Lawrence K. . Virus Found That May Be Linked To a Debilitating Fatigue Ailment . news article . The New York Times . September 5, 1990 . 2009-02-24 .
9. DeFreitas E, Hilliard B, Cheney PR . Retroviral sequences related to human T-lymphotropic virus type II in patients with chronic fatigue immune dysfunction syndrome . Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. . 88 . 7 . 2922–6 . April 1991 . 1672770 . 51352 . 10.1073/pnas.88.7.2922. etal. 1991PNAS...88.2922D . free .
10. Sam Donaldson, Nancy Snyderman, Paul Cheney, David Bell, Elaine DeFreitas, Hillary Johnson, PWC's, Paul Pollard, Mrs. Dailor, Philip Lee . Sick & Tired . Television . ABC News . 1996-03-27.
11. Inability of retroviral tests to identify persons with chronic fatigue syndrome, 1992 . MMWR Morb. Mortal. Wkly. Rep. . 42 . 10 . 183, 189–90 . March 1993 . 8446093 . 2009-02-23 . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
12. Book: Bell, David . The doctor's guide to chronic fatigue syndrome: understanding, treating, and living with CFIDS . Addison-Wesley Pub. Co . Reading, Mass . 1995 . 122–123 . 978-0-201-40797-6 .
13. Book: Assessing and Documenting Impairment in CFS. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. 2007. 2009-02-10.
14. Book: ME/CFS Guidelines Myalgic Encephalopathy (ME)/ Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) Management Guidelines for General Practitioners . South Australian Department of Human Services . 2004. 978-0-7308-9334-9 .
15. Sarah Myhill . Norman E. Booth . John McLaren-Howard . Chronic fatigue syndrome and mitochondrial dysfunction . Int J Clin Exp Med . 2 . 1. 1–16 . 2009 . 19436827. 2009-01-26 . 2680051.
16. Book: Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: From Diagnosis to Management CME/CE. Medscape, LLC. 2008. pdf. 2009-04-19.
17. Web site: I Remember Me . Documentary . 2009-05-09.
18. Web site: I Remember Me . press release . ZEITGEIST FILMS . 2009-01-09 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20101202010142/http://zeitgeistfilms.com/films/irememberme/presskit.pdf . 2010-12-02 .
19. Web site: Secretary Thompson Names New Members To Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Advisory Committee . U.S. Department of Health & Human Services . October 1, 2003 . 2010-10-13 . https://web.archive.org/web/20100610043209/http://archive.hhs.gov/news/press/2003pres/20031001b.html . June 10, 2010 . dead .
20. Recognizing Chronic Fatigue Syndrome in Teens . Internal Medicine News . 38 . 9 . 15 . 2005 . 10.1016/S1097-8690(05)70626-0 . 2009-02-07 . Bell . D .
21. Web site: SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION FISCAL YEAR 2008 Justification of Estimates for Appropriations Committees . U.S. Social Security Administration . February 2007 . 2009-02-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110529152022/http://199.173.224.108/budget/2008cjapp.pdf . 2011-05-29 . dead .
22. Web site: Bulletin of the International Association for CFS/ME. International Association for CFS/ME. Spring 2006. 2009-01-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20090525004242/http://www.iacfsme.org/NewsletterArchiveSpring2006/tabid/214/Default.aspx. 2009-05-25. dead.
23. Friedberg F, Sohl S, Schmeizer B . Publication trends in chronic fatigue syndrome: comparisons with fibromyalgia and fatigue: 1995-2004 . J Psychosom Res . 63 . 2 . 143–6 . August 2007 . 17662750 . 10.1016/j.jpsychores.2007.03.003 .
24. Web site: Bellini J. . The Puzzle of Chronic Fatigue . Video . WSJ . March 5, 2011 . 2011-03-05.
25. Web site: Open Medicine Foundation Scientific Advisory Board . 2018-07-03.