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Italian CFS radio feature with Umberto Tirelli

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
This isn't really earth-shattering news but I thought I'd mention there was a radio slot of 45 minutes on Italy's main radio station yesterday about CFS. It was a phone-in with Umberto Tirelli, who participated in drawing up the Fukuda definition of CFS.

I liked the way he presented the illness and I hope it will have raised awareness and understanding. He was clear and emphatic that this is a physical illness and he mentioned the XMRV research, but the depressing thing was that all the callers thought, if they feel a bit worn out, then they probably have CFS. He just repeated again and again that this is a specific illness, probably caused by an infectious agent but possibly also with a genetic component to it, and you have swollen glands, feel like you have flu, have frequent headaches and many other symptoms.
I think his message was hard to get across because when you translate CFS into Italian it comes out as "the syndrome of chronic tiredness," which sounds even more ludicrous than Chronic Fatigue.

He also mentioned the fact that the Italian government does not recognise CFS as existing in any form whatsoever, not even as a psychological illness. (In Italy, if you don't have the diagnosis of a named illness, you have to pay in full for all your medical tests and medications. Private health insurance does not exist, and the state subsidised medical system does not kick in until you have a proven illness with a name and a code number.)

I just thought I'd mention that the XMRV research seems to be gently making waves, even in places where CFS is so far off the agenda. Better than nothing.
 

Sasha

Fine, thank you
Messages
17,863
Location
UK
What an awful situation in Italy. Good for Tirelli, though.

Thanks for posting, Athene, this was interesting to read about.
 

fred

The game is afoot
Messages
400
He also mentioned the fact that the Italian government does not recognise CFS as existing in any form whatsoever, not even as a psychological illness.

Does the Italian Government recognise HIV/AIDS and HTLV induced leukaemia?
 

awol

Senior Member
Messages
417
Switzerland is similar. Not recognized at all. Insurance will pay for psychotherapy for it anyway, but no way to qualify for disability.
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
Hi Fred,
They do recognise HIV/AIDS but I don't know about HTLV induced leukaemia - If there is a diagnostic lab test for it then they almost certainly do.
 

JillBohr

Senior Member
Messages
247
Location
Columbus, OH
Thank you so much for posting this Athene. It is always so interesting to see how other countries are covering this. How is it with autism? Are the numbers of children being diagnosed with autism increased? Is there very much media coverage on it? Just curious.
 

Athene

ihateticks.me
Messages
1,143
Location
Italy
Hi Jill,
There seems to be a growing awareness of autism and an increasing rate of diagnosis of it - I guess that means the frequency of it is increasing.
There was also a TV transmission recently to raise awareness and social "acceptance" of people with autism, but I'm afraid I missed it so I dont' know any details.
In terms of therapy they are fully focused on behavioural therapy and have no awareness of any biomedical interventions whatsoever. For the behavioural therapy they are outstandingly good though. The nursery was fantastic at helping my son catch up and get back to "normal" once I had put all the dietary and other interventions in place. They are very good at teaching other children what is different about autistic and disabled children and encouraging them to help. When my son was ignoring everyone and lying on the floor unable to speak, the other kids would take turns sitting by him, chatting, showing him toys and just kissing and cuddling him because the teachers taught them that this would help him. And it did.