24 NOVEMBER 1990, Page 26

Sir: While Theodore Dalrymple makes flippant remarks about ME, thousands

of sufferers battle on against a cruel disease and an ignorant medical profession. Just as MS sufferers were sidelined as hysterics until sophisticated tests came along, so now doctors are trying to do the same to ME patients. They have no evidence for their assertions other than prejudice and a poorly researched paper written 20 years ago.

The evidence for the viral origin of this disease continues to mount. When the case is conclusively proven, which seems most likely, will the medical profession have the good grace to make a collective apology to the tens of thousands of people who have been so sorely ill-treated by them?

James Corin

Trespassers, Bugsell Lane, Robertsbridge, East Sussex