Tapanui Flu

Tapanui Flu is a colloquial and outdated name used in New Zealand for myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), coined after an outbreak occurred in the Tapanui area in the early 1980s. Though sometimes still used informally, it has been replaced in the medical community with the terms: myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME), postviral fatigue syndrome (PVFS), Chronic Fatigue Immune Dysfunction Syndrome (CFIDS) and/or chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). The term, Tapanui Flu, originated from a 1984 outbreak in the small, rural town of Tapanui, in West Otago in New Zealand's South Island, close to the boundary with Southland region.

Emeritus Prof Warren Tate (73), of the University of Otago biochemistry department, officially retired but is continuing his molecular-level research into the condition at the university. His daughter Katherine, then a Logan Park High School pupil, previously been lively and energetic, struggled to walk any distance. The initial name of the condition, the Tapanui flu, from the experience of late Tapanui GP Peter Snow when in 1984, several patients presented with a prolonged flu-like illness not previously identified. His research showed disturbances in the production of some key proteins needed in human mitochondria, the body’s power packs within cells. He was also cautiously optimistic that a treatment, perhaps including the use of antioxidants, could eventually be developed.