Severe ME Awareness Day Date in the current year: August 8, 2025

Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) is a disabling chronic illness characterized by profound fatigue that persists even with rest, sleep issues, and memory or concentration problems. The cause of ME/CFS is unknown, and for a long time, many doctors considered it a psychosomatic disorder. Most cases of ME/CFS appear to start after an infection.

Approximately 25% of patients experience severe or very severe ME/CFS, which greatly impedes daily living. Those with severe ME are almost completely or completely housebound and unable to work or study. They can only perform basic self-care activities and may require a wheelchair and/or spend most of their time in bed. Those with very severe ME are mostly bedbound and require constant care. Some patients with severe ME are unable to receive proper medical care because they are physically unable to visit a doctor, and doctors often refuse to make home visits.

Over time, patients with severe or very severe ME/CFS may experience severe pain, hypersensitivity to external stimuli, and loss of the ability to speak, swallow, or communicate due to cognitive decline.

International ME/CFS Awareness Day is observed annually on May 12. However, severe myalgic encephalomyelitis has its own awareness day, observed on August 8. The 25 Percent ME Group, a UK support group focused on helping the most severely affected patients with ME and their caregivers, launched Severe ME Awareness Day in 2013.

Severe ME Awareness Day is observed on August 8 to mark the birthday of Sophia Mirza. Mirza was a young British woman who suffered from severe ME. She was forcibly sent to a psychiatric hospital because her doctors did not believed that her disease was organic and died from complications a couple of years later.

Mirza first experienced symptoms at age 26 and soon became bedridden. Shortly before her 30th birthday in 2003, Mirza was forcibly removed from her home and admitted to a psychiatric hospital under the Mental Health Act because her doctors believed her condition was psychosomatic and her mother, who cared for her, “enabled” Mirza. She spent two weeks in a psychiatric facility where she received inappropriate treatment and care.

Upon her return home, Mirza’s health deteriorated further. At the time of her death in November 2005, she was almost unable to eat, could only consume a small amount of water, and suffered from severe pain and an ear infection. The autopsy revealed significant inflammation in her spinal cord and attributed her death directly to complications from ME/CFS. Mirza’s death certificate was the first in the UK to cite ME/CFS as the cause of death.

Severe ME Awareness Day was created to educate the public about severe myalgic encephalomyelitis, advocate for better treatment and research, and honor the memory of those who have suffered from and died from severe ME.