http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,8123-2556261_1,00.html

<short extract>
A campaign launched this month by the American Centres for Disease Control 
and Prevention (CDC) is typical of the change surrounding the syndrome; its 
aim is to instil in both patients and physicians that this is a disease to 
be taken seriously. It comes five years after the UK Government's Chief 
Medical Officer declared it a genuine chronic illness and its classification 
by the World Health Organisation as a neurological disorder.


Characteristically, these medical organisations agree: CFS begins with 
routine flu-like symptoms, but can result in years of chronic, painful 
fatigue that, crucially, is not improved by bed rest. It can affect anyone 
of any age - there are estimates that 25,000 children and teenagers in 
Britain have the condition. A recent survey by the charity Action for ME 
suggested that 55,000 people are so badly affected that they are either 
bedbound or housebound.

Yet with no recognised cause, diagnosis and treatment, the illness has 
remained problematic. Experts cannot even agree on what to call it - most 
widely known as CFS, it is also called myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) or 
post-viral fatigue syndrome (PVFS).

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