Letter: ME myths

Published on Tuesday 22 February 2011 15:33

There have been some outrageous headlines in the media recently, following publication in the Lancet of a five-year, £4.2 million study which compared different therapies for ME (your report, 18 February).

Let's be very clear on this: exercise and talking therapy cannot cure ME. The Pace trial does not say it can. What the study says is that some people who have fatigue as their primary symptom may gain moderate improvements in their physical functioning if they receive a cognitive behaviour or graded exercise programme in a specialist chronic fatigue syndrome/ME clinic.

Now, can the UK research community please start focusing on the biology of this illness?

Sir Peter Spencer

Action for ME

Victoria Street

Bristol