Chili ME Challenge: Make This Summer Red Hot for Research!

Watch Mady Hornig and Ian Lipkin take the Chili ME Challenge!

CFS, also known as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, or ME/CFS, is a complex illness affects between 0.5 and 2 percent of adults in the U.S. It is characterized by a severe debilitating fatigue lasting at least six months. The causes of CFS are unknown and there is no approved diagnostic test or treatment.

On July 1, renowned researchers Ian Lipkin and Mady Hornig at the Center for Infection & Immunity (CII) at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health will take the Chili ME Challenge via live webcast. CII challenges you to support this research to help unlock the mysteries of ME/CFS. Every dollar you give directly supports research.

The Chili ME Challenge harnesses social media to raise awareness and funding for important ongoing research. This grassroots campaign organized by four young women living with ME/CFS provides direct support for research by Drs. Lipkin and Hornig. Earlier this year, the Center published two high-profile papers reporting the discovery of robust evidence that ME/CFS is a biological illness, paving the way to improved diagnosis and treatment.

The funds raised will support comprehensive studies into the role of the bacteria, fungi and viruses in CFS. Research into the human microbiome is an exciting new pathway to advance understanding of the role more than a trillion microorganisms in our body play in health and in the development of disease. As one of the the world’s largest and most advanced centers in microbe discovery, identification and diagnosis, CII is optimally positioned to embark upon the challenge to determine how bacteria, fungi, viruses and toxins (and the immune response to them) contribute to ME/CFS.

Your support may show the way toward treatment strategies. With every gift, the Spice-O-Meter will climb. The more you give, the hotter it gets. Challenge your friends and family to join in on Facebook and Twitter. Simply include the tag #ChiliMEchallenge and link to this page.

Donate now and put the heat on ME/CFS!

Don't stop at giving. You, too, can eat a hot pepper and challenge others to do the same.