1 DECEMBER 1990, Page 29

Sir: In reply to Valerie O'Farrell and James Corin (Letters,

24 November), can I respond as a member of the medical profession (retired)?

Long before viruses were discovered and viral illnesses became fashionable — no- body has a cold any more, they have a virus — I and many of my colleagues diagnosed and told patients they had 'post-influenzal depression'. The symptoms were the same as ME and prognosis the same — varying from person to person. ME is new but the medical condition is not.

F.S. Black

Tighnacoille, Tighnabruaich, Argyll