The film tells of her five-year journey of living with CFIDS and is helping to raise awareness of the illness. The film received an Honorary Mention at the 2000 Hamptons International Film Festival, was named Winner, Best Documentary, at the Denver Inter-national Film Festival, and was first runner-up at the Sarasota Film Festival.

The documentary was also screened at film festivals in Santa Barbara, Calif., March 1-11, and Cleveland, Ohio, March 22-23, and in Taos, N.M, April 5-8.

Eastman Kodak hosted a screening April 10 in Los Angeles and the film has been accepted at a Finland film festival as well.

Clinical definitions established in Canada
The National Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME)/Fibromyalgia (FM) Action Network, a nonprofit Canadian patient advocacy organization, has succeeded in getting a consensus on the clinical definitions and diagnostic and treatment protocols for ME and FM.

The organization recruited physicians to create a draft document and convinced Canadian health officials to establish a panel of experts, including researchers and physicians from the United States, to review and agree upon final language. In Canada, the terms ME and CFS are used interchangeably. The group purposefully did not take up the name issue in its work.

While the international CFS case definition is intended only to help guide research, the Canadian definitions and protocols have been developed to assist clinicians in diagnosing and treating patients. The panel completed its work in late March, and the Action Network is submitting the definitions and protocols to a Canadian medical journal. The documents will not be publicly available until they are published.

Revised ICD codes posted
The International Classification of Diseases (ICD) diagnostic codes, assigned by the World Health Organization, impact Social Security and long-term disability eligibility and reimbursement for medical services by third-party payers.

The National Center for Health Statistics has posted a summary of CFS and ICD codes [Chronicle web link] for the United States and other countries on the Department of Human Health and Services Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Coordinating Committee Web site. (Document no longer exists on that site.)

Alliance formed to develop FM treatments
Cypress Bioscience, Inc. and Georgetown University Medical school announced a research agreement to identify and develop therapies to treat FM. Dr. Daniel Clauw, Chief of the Division of Rheumatology, will direct the program.

Ampligen denied fast track
The Food and Drug Administration recently denied Ampligen fast track status, a process aimed at shortening the length of time it takes for important new drugs to get to the market.

New publication by PWC
Floyd Skloot, a PWC and a four-time finalist for the Oregon Book Award, has published a second poetry collection. The Evening Light examines surviving a chronic illness. His second collection of poems is available through Story Line Press. Contact mail@storylinepress.com or call 541/512-8792 for additional details.