Myalgic Encephalomyelitis: Guidelines for Doctors

For those of us who are involved in the care of patients with this condition, the recorded work of Biorn Signurdsson (1913-1953) in connection with the Akureyn outbreak in Iceland which affected over 1000 patients, both children and adults was repeated by Melvin Ramsay when he was involved in the outbreak in his hospital which became known as the "Royal Free Disease" but defined by him as Myalgic Encephalomyelitis. This was followed by an excellent monograph in 1969 by Luis Leon-Sotomayor published by Pageant Press International Corp., New York and entitled, "Epidemic Diencephalomyelits; A Possible Cause of Neuropsychiatric, Cardiovascular and Endocrine Disorders." Since then many colleagues from the U.K. and other countries have demonstrated the pathological systemic consequences which may occur after a viral illness and have long term effects. All this work has been pursued by many colleagues in the U.K. and abroad since then, amongst whom are 72 who contributed to the book of more recent origin and published by the Nightingale Research Foundation, entitled, The Clinical and Scientific Basis of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis.