Journal of IiME Volume 2 Issue 2 The Terminology of ME & CFS By Professor Malcolm Hooper 1990 Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and the Psychiatrist SE Abbey, PE Garfinkel Canadian Journal of Psychiatry 1990:35:7:625-626 1992 A Chronic Illness Characterised by Fatigue, Neurologic and Immunologic Disorders, and Active Human Herpesvirus Type 6 Infection D Buchwald, PR Cheney, R Gallo, AL Komaroff et al Annals of Internal Medicine 992:116:2:103 This paper states "Magnetic resonance scans of the brain showed punctate, subcortical areas of high signal intensity consistent with oedema or demyelination in 78% of patients" 1994 Detection of Intracranial Abnormalities in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: Comparison of MR Imaging and SPECT. RB Schawrtz, BM Garada American Journal of Roentgenology 1994:162:935-941 1995 Pathophysiology of a Central Cause of Post-Polio Fatigue Richard Bruno et al Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences 1995:753:257-275 1997 A 56-year old woman with chronic fatigue syndrome Anthony J Komaroff JAMA 1997:278:14:1179-1184 It is true that there is no evidence of inflammation of the brain or spinal cord in states of chronic fatigue or "tiredness." It is also true that neither the 1991 (Oxford) criteria nor the 1994 (CDC) criteria select those with ME, as they both expressly include those with somatisation disorders and they expressly exclude those with any physical signs of disease (as is the case in ME), so by definition, patients with signs of neurological disease have been excluded from study. It is also true that Professor Simon Wessely and Invest in ME (Charity Nr. 1114035) his colleagues use the terms "fatigue", "chronic fatigue", "the chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)" and "myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME)" as synonymous. Such obfuscation has greatly hindered research, as pointed out in the 1994 Report of the National Task Force on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS), Post-Viral Fatigue Syndrome (PVFS) and Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME), published by Westcare, Bristol and supported by the UK Department of Health, which stated: "Chronic fatigue syndromes remain poorly understood. Progress in understanding them is hampered by: the use by researchers of heterogeneous study groups the use of study groups which have been selected using different definitions of CFS the invalid comparisons of contradictory research findings stemming from the above". The Report names psychiatrists Dr Simon Wessely, Dr Peter White and Dr Michael Sharpe and acknowledged their help, but then makes the point that "people who gave their help are not necessarily in agreement with the opinions expressed" (page 87). It was said to be because those psychiatrists strongly disagreed with the findings of the 1994 Westcare Report that in 1996 they produced their own report (the Report of the Joint Royal Colleges on CFS (CR54), which was internationally recognised as being biased and seriously flawed). Classification The WHO was founded in 1948. The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) comes in two volumes: Volume I is the (continued on page 45) Page 44/74 www.investinme.org
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