To the editor:
Statistics Canada reports 411,500 Canadians have myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME): a neuroendocrineimmune disease of unknown etiology, with no standard lab test, no cure and less than 10 per cent recover.
Children and adults get ME. Diagnostic and treatment knowledge are lacking. Federal research funds are extremely deficient at 52 cents/patient/year.
Recently, two prominent USA health departments, the Institute of Medicine (IOM) and the National Institutes of Health (NIH), urged an increase in research, diagnosis and treatment. The IOM has developed streamlined diagnostic criteria, and say: "ME/CFS is a serious, chronic, complex, systemic disease that often can profoundly affect the lives of patients."
The NIH reports there is strong and reproducible evidence of dysfunction and abnormalities in ME patients' biologies.
For further information please see www.iom.edu/MECFS and www.mefminfo@mefmaction.com
Cindy Downey, Lake Country