Sophia Mirza
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Sophia Mirza | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1973 Brighton, United Kingdom |
| Died | 25 November 2005 (aged 31–32) Brighton |
| Cause of death | Acute kidney failure directly attributed to chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) |
| Known for | First death in the UK with CFS listed as a cause by coroner |
Sophia Mirza (1973 – 25 November 2005) was a woman in the United Kingdom who died from complications of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS).[1] The inquest recorded the cause of death as "renal failure as a result of chronic fatigue syndrome".
Death
Mirza was born in the United Kingdom in 1973, one of four children to Irish and Asian parents. She visited Africa at the age of 19, traveling and working throughout the continent and was infected with malaria twice while there. At the age of 26, Mirza fell ill with what appeared to be the flu and shortly afterward became convalescent.
In July 2003 Mirza was forceably removed from her home and sectioned for two weeks by her doctors, who had come to believe her condition was psychosomatic, an action which her mother and sister said severely worsened her condition. Her mother and sister stated that Mirza's physical symptoms were treated as a mental condition rather than a physical illness, and her mother was accused of enabling her.[2][3]
For two years following her sectioning, Mirza's health deteriorated. By September 2005 she took a significant turn for the worse, developing intolerance to most of the food she consumed, ear infection and severe pain, and was only able to consume a small amount of water. At the time of her death she was only able to tolerate 4 imp fl oz (110 mL) of water a day, as her glands would swell up and it felt like the circulation in her legs was being cut off. However, due to her previous experiences, she did not want a doctor to be called.[4][self-published source?] Mirza died on 25 November 2005. Initial autopsy results were inconclusive for her cause of death, but a second autopsy and the results of an inquest released on 13 June 2006 determined the cause of death to be "acute anueric kidney failure due to dehydration caused by CFS".[1] Though initially reported by New Scientist as the first death worldwide ascribed to CFS, the magazine later acknowledged that other deaths had been directly attributed to CFS in the United States and Australia.[1] Fatalities have been attributed to CFS or ME since at least 1956.[5]