ACHESON, E D · Lancet (London, England) · 1957 · DOI
This is an early medical observation from 1957 describing ME/CFS as a benign condition. The study documents cases of people experiencing prolonged fatigue and muscle pain after viral infections. This foundational work helped establish that ME/CFS is a real medical condition deserving clinical attention.
This study is historically significant as one of the earliest systematic medical descriptions of ME/CFS in peer-reviewed literature, helping legitimize the condition as a recognized medical diagnosis. It provided crucial documentation that validated patient experiences and established the foundation for subsequent clinical and research investigations into this debilitating illness.
This observational study does not establish causation or biological mechanisms underlying ME/CFS. It cannot prove efficacy of any treatments and lacks the experimental rigor to determine pathophysiology. The descriptive nature means findings are not generalizable beyond the observed cases and do not establish prevalence or epidemiological patterns.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
ACHESON, E D (1957). Benign myalgic encephalomyelitis.. Lancet (London, England). https://doi.org/10.1016/s0140-6736(57)90999-6
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-acheson-1957-benign-myalgic,
author = {ACHESON, E D},
title = {Benign myalgic encephalomyelitis.},
journal = {Lancet (London, England)},
year = {1957},
doi = {10.1016/s0140-6736(57)90999-6},
note = {PubMed: 13417614},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/acheson-1957-benign-myalgic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/acheson-1957-benign-myalgic
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