Some authors have attempted to dismiss this disease as hysterical, but the evidence now makes such a tenet unacceptable

Dr. John Richardson, BMJ 1978 !!:

Some authors have attempted to dismiss this disease as hysterical,'13 but the evidence now makes such a tenet unacceptable.

Some purely psychiatric symptoms may well occur, particularly in patients entering the -chronic phase.

No doubt, too, in an epidemic some hysterical persons will simulate the symptoms of the disease. Nevertheless, the organic basis is clear-from the finding that the putative agent can be transferred to monkeys14; the detection of an increased urinary output of creatine2 1";

the persistent finding of abnormal lymphocytes in the peripheral blood of some patients'6; the presence of lymphocytes and an increased protein concentration in the cerebrospinal fluid of occasional patients3; and the neurological findings.

At this symposium more evidence was produced to support the organic nature of the disease. Increased serum concentrations of lactic dehydrogenases and transaminases have been found in several patients examined during the acute attack. Read more>>, pdf