Note: This comment appeared in the Journal of the Royal Society of Medicine, Volume 83, October 1990 in reference to The diagnosis of postviral syndrome. [J R Soc Med. 1990]
Postviral syndrome Dr D J D Perrins writes (June 1990 JRSM, p 413) of the difficulty in making a definitive diagnosis of postviral syndrome (myalgic encephalomyelitis, ME) echoing the paper by Dr Bowman et aL (December 1988 JRSM, p 712) and goes on to affirm ‘the clinical pattern of ME has much in common with multiple sclerosis (1). No neurologist of experience would agree with this statement. Dr Perrins admits that some of the patients he himself reported upon may in fact have had MS. Seven out of 10 MS patients will tell you the diagnosis if you listen carefully (the late Henry Miller); ‘a blind neurologist is better than a deaf one’ (Mumenthaler, Berne). The clinical course of ME and MS is usually quite different, though occasional ‘difficult’ similarities may be met with.
You can read the rest of this comment here: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1292897/pdf/jrsocmed00131-0089b.pdf
Source: E. J. Field. Postviral syndrome. J R Soc Med. 1990 Oct;83(10):675-6. http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1292897/