John Richardson

John Richardson, MB BS, (1915-2002) was a British clinician who spent many years caring for and researching ME patients. He wrote a book describing the relationship between exposure to enteroviruses or toxins such as organophosphates and onset of myalgic encephalomyelitis and other organ pathologies.

He was involved in research demonstrating an association between ME, enterovirus infection, and hypothalamic dysfunction, brainstem hypoperfusion , and brain pathology at autopsy. He also produced a document containing guidelines for physicians on diagnosing and treating ME patients.

Notable studies

 * 2000, Four Cases of Pesticide Poisoning, Presenting as “ME,” Treated with a Choline and Ascorbic Acid Mixture"'Abstract - Objectives: 1. To demonstrate in four patients, in whom the correct diagnosis of pesticide poisoning had been missed, the injustices inflicted on them when they are told ME does not exist. 2. To show how closely the features of such poisoning, especially by organochlo-rines, resemble those of the much more classic ME which is usually due, at least in the author's practice in the northern region of the UK, to persistent enteroviral infection. 3. To draw attention to a new and apparently successful form of treatment with an oral mixture of choline and ascorbic acid. 4. To suggest reasons why this treatment merits further scientific investigation. Setting: A charity based private practice involved in the investigation of viral mediated disease. Subjects: Four patients, two male and two female, each referred with a diagnosis of ME. Intervention: a. Samples of blood were sent to Biolab Medical Unit where a variety of pesticide residues, including the very persistent organochlorines, were identified and progress in detoxification was monitored, b. All four cases were treated orally with a choline and ascorbic acid mixture. Results: After a variable number of months, during the early phase of which the blood levels of some of the toxins rose, possibly due to mobilization from fatty stores, all symptoms cleared as blood levels fell. Key Messages: The term ME comprises a number of clinical features, characterizing a patient who is ill. To refuse to recognize their existence does the patient much injustice. Some cases of ME may be found to have pesticide poisoning. The possibility of it should always be borne in mind. The source may be either in the UK or abroad. A positive enquiry and a single blood test will provide a diagnosis. Organochlorines may persist in the body for many years, as may the symptoms derived from them. A detoxification program based on oral administration of a choline and ascorbic acid mixture has shown much promise and deserves verification of its value. Conclusions: Amongst the group of clinical features known as ME, the possibility of pesticide poisoning should always be borne in mind. Treatment with choline and ascorbic acid mixture is worth trying, pending its more formal investigation.'"
 * 1995, Disturbance of Hypothalamic Function and Evidence for Persistent Enteroviral Infection in Patients with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome

Book

 * Enteroviral and Toxin Mediated Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Other Organ Pathologies

Obituary

 * 2002, Obituary in the BMJ