Intended for healthcare professionals

Rapid response to:

Research

Post-infective and chronic fatigue syndromes precipitated by viral and non-viral pathogens: prospective cohort study

BMJ 2006; 333 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.38933.585764.AE (Published 14 September 2006) Cite this as: BMJ 2006;333:575

Rapid Response:

The irrelevance of PVIS and CFS to ME

This article emphasisies the rather disastrous consequences of the
official adoption of "CFS/ME" for those who suffer from ME. The authors
totally disregard the fact that the Ramsay criteria enabled the
recognition of ME people, both before and after the 1988 announcement of
the criteria for CFS.
In reaching their conclusions, the authors ignored much published
information concerning ME, yet failed to produce an acceptable
pathophysiology which would provide a basis for treatment.
The article should serve as a wake-up call to ME organisations and all
those interested in ME to press for the adoption of the Ramsay criteria,
in order to counteract the widening of inclusion criteria for a diagnosis
of CFS.
Until ME people are separated from thos with CFS, they will continue to
have a poor quality of life.

Competing interests:
None declared

Competing interests: No competing interests

05 November 2006
Les O SIMPSON
retired medical research worker
Dunedin, New Zealand, 9077