There is the widespread belief that Ramsay was first to use the term benign myalgic encephalomyelitis. It was E. Donald Acheson in an anonymous Lancet editorial in 1956. Some assumed Ramsay wrote the editorial, but Acheson was later credited. name-us.org/DefintionsPages/DefinitionsArticles/Lancet1956.pdf This is from a review article by J. Gordon Parish on the ME Research UK site: In a leading article published anonymously in the Lancet in May 1956 (4), Acheson reviewed eight similar outbreaks and suggested a title Benign Myalgic Encephalomyelitis for the new clinical entity based on the presumed underlying pathology. He considered the disease to be ‘benign’ compared with other epidemic infections of the nervous system seen in various types of encephalitis and in poliomyelitis due to the absence of patients dying. However, ‘benign’ was later deleted from the title, leading to the abbreviation to ME, because in some cases the severity and duration of the disability resulting from the disease was far from being benign. meresearch.org.uk/information/publications/acheson-review/
Posted on: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:21:42 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015