illness

By Dionne Paton

Photograph by Ina Lazerev.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitus, (M.E.) has been in the headlines recently regarding the announcement to prevent people with the illness donating blood, prompted by the possibility of a link between a retrovirus and M.E. Also known as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) it is an illness which causes severe symptoms in the sufferer.

Symptoms can be complex and hard to diagnose. There are often a mix of symptoms and one sufferer may not experience the same symptoms as another. Symptoms include: persistent and overwhelming fatigue, pain in joints and limbs, sleeping difficulties, problems with thought and difficulty concentrating, heightened sensitivity to outside factors and upset to the digestive and nervous systems. There is no cure and currently research is ongoing. Last year, the Medical Research Council spent £109,000 researching the illness.

This debilitating disease is a difficult syndrome to live with and affects the sufferer’s daily life. Earl Howe, the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State of the Department of Health said of the blood donation ban:

“This decision was prompted by a recent independent risk assessment of a possible link between a murine retrovirus and CFS/ ME. Although the risk assessment was found no evidence of a link or a risk to transfusion recipients, the UK blood services recognised that practice for CFS/ ME should be brought in line with other conditions where individuals are permanently excluded from blood donation to protect their own health.”

Although this would indicate that M.E. is an illness which is easily definable as seriously debilitating due to the effect it can have on concentration and judgement and its obvious physical restrictions to the sufferer, it is not as clear-cut as that. Often professional opinion does not regard it as a disability. Tony Britton has said of the Syndrome:

“Despite being recognised by the UK Department of Health as a neurological disease and categorised as such by the World Health Organization since 1968, sufferers from this chronic, distressing disease have been labelled variously as work shy, attention-seeking and suffering psychosocial behavioural problems by some members of the medical profession, who would prefer it to be in the mental health category. To the press, it is still ‘yuppie flu’.”

This diminished view of the seriousness of the illness has a damaging effect on M.E. sufferers. In the issuing of Taxi cards, a scheme run by Edinburgh council where people suffering from a disability can claim to help with costs for travel by taking off a few pounds from the total cost of traveling by taxi. As people with M.E. have a disability they are entitled to claim. The application for a Taxi card from the council must be accompanied by a supporting letter from your G.P. and it is on their support you can claim.

One Edinburgh CFS sufferer has had her G.P. take away her supporting letter when trying to renew her Taxi card. This has been revoked as the treatment she was receiving no longer included physiotherapy. However, removal of a treatment does not mean the disability is gone. On describing what the Taxi card means to her in her daily life, she said:

“It’s like a lifeline. Without it, I am restricted on where I can go. It’s another financial penalty and if I was able to get a bus somewhere, I may begin to feel really unwell and not manage to get back home.”

It is unfair that the decision alone rests with one G.P. when medical opinion in terms of seriousness can be varied. Currently a supporting letter from a G.P. should only include that a person does have a disability or not and that should be enough for the council. When asked to make a response, the Edinburgh Council stated that sufferers “must be able to prove they are eligible for this benefit.”

It is difficult for the sufferer and the sufferer should be supported through this disability, and recognised as truly ill. The debate on the definition of whether it is truly a disease remains unfathomable until further research is provided.

Pandemic feared as new cases of swine flu reported

Mexicans cover their faces in masks as the swine flu outbreak spreads (photo courtesy of Globe_Photo)

By Jodi Mullen

Governments and health officials around the world are battling to contain the spread of a new strain of swine flu, amidst fears that the virus could become a global pandemic. More than 1,600 cases of the illness have been reported in Mexico, where the first outbreaks of the virus occurred, and there have also been confirmed cases in the United States and Canada. Patients in New Zealand, Spain, France, Israel and the UK are also being monitored with suspected cases of the virus.

In Mexico, 103 people have died from the illness, though only twenty have been confirmed by laboratories as having been caused by swine flu. The Mexican government has acted swiftly to contain the virus and in Mexico City, the centre of the initial outbreak, most shops, schools, restaurants and public buildings have been closed. The public have been advised to abstain from unnecessary physical contact, including shaking hands and kissing, and many people are refusing to leave their homes without masks and are consuming stored food and water rather than using public supplies.

The World Health Organisation (WHO) is advising all affected countries and is working to prevent the further spread of the virus across international borders. While there are no reported deaths outside of Mexico at the moment, the WHO remains vigilant and has asked governments to closely monitor all arrivals from regions with confirmed cases of swine flu. China and Russia have placed quarantine restrictions on passengers arriving from affected countries while the US is set to begin testing for the virus at immigration control in international airports.

While there is no vaccine for the new strain of swine flu, the WHO is working closely with governments to ensure that sufficient quantities of anti-viral drugs reach affected areas. Dr Keiji Fukuda, the WHO’s assistant director-general, said that preparations to prevent a global outbreak of avian influenza between 2004 and 2007 have helped impede the spread of the virus. “I believe that the world is much, much better prepared than we have ever been for dealing with this kind of situation,” he said.

Dr Keji Fukuda courtesy of voanews

Two Scots are undergoing tests for swine flu in hospital in Airdrie in the first suspected case of the virus in the UK. The couple fell ill shortly after returning to Scotland from a holiday in Mexico and have since been hospitalised and quarantined. Friends and family members who had contact with the couple after their return are being monitored by health officials and plans are in place to isolate them should any develop symptoms of swine flu. The results of the tests are expected later today.

At present, the WHO is holding its pandemic crisis alert system at Level 3, though the organisation has debated raising the threat level to 4. If signs appear that the virus can pass easily from person to person, the alert level will likely rise. The WHO has warned that Level 5 indicates an imminent pandemic, when governments should resort to emergency measures to mitigate the spread of the disease, while Level 6 represents a full-blown global pandemic.