THE ME Community Trust.org welcomes the new International Consensus Criteria (ICC) for ME (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis), compiled by 26 acknowledged authorities from all parts of the world.
It not only renders obsolete all previous criteria but calls into question the trustworthiness of conclusions drawn from the whole catalogue of previous research, using the heterogeneous CFS or hybrid CFS/ME, and also sets a new benchmark for future research.
We also welcome the pioneering initiative of the charity Invest in ME to establish a specialist centre of excellence for diagnosis, research and treatment in the UK to be financed by independently and conducted by academics free of any conflicting interests.
The ME Community Trust.org further seeks the exclusion of ‘fatigue’ along with its bookends ‘chronic’ and ‘syndrome’ as another step towards purity of sample to be tested.
This would allow us to identify any obvious similarities and suggest lines of biomedical research to be pursued, in advance of recommending any treatments at all.
Aspirations are greater and morale higher, with increasingly firm scientific and ethical foundations, that a diagnostic test for ME will be found, which may suggest effective treatment towards cure or significant recovery from this woefully neglected illness.
DR JOHN GREENSMITH, ME Community Trust.org, 36a North Street, Downend, Bristol, BS16 5SW
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