Our News Articles

Publish date July 27 2022 One of our amazing volunteers, Jenny, Dr Richard Schloeffel and CEO Anne Wilson were recently interviewed for the RMIT City Journal by Rebecca Kazmierczak. Jenny who was once an active swimmer, runner and bush walker, bravely explains how her life has deteriorated into a “lifelong lockdown”, where she is bedridden most days

One cold evening in late July, Emerge Australia’s Nurse Educator, Kate Herbert, presented to the Australian Physiotherapy Association pain special interest group about ME/CFS. With over 100 participants, including attendees also from other special interest groups, this was the most well attended presentation Kate has delivered to date.   Kate’s presentation drew on research and practice.

Our International Roundup provides a brief snapshot of some of the ME/CFS research funding, clinical care and advocacy actions around the world in the last few months.  Research The US National Institute of Health’s (NIH) Community Advisory Committee for ME/CFS has developed a quick reference guide for researchers designing clinical trials with ME/CFS patients. The

Current medical predictions suggesting up to 325,000 people may be affected by long COVID, in addition to the 250,000 living with ME/CFS, will be the foundation of a major post viral attack on the Australian community in coming years threatening national and state budgets.  Women will account for seventy-five per cent of people affected Anne

We may anticipate that as COVID-19 becomes endemic in the future, so too will be an ongoing stream of patients whose infections develop into Long COVID, even if they have been vaccinated. Our health systems must move quickly to support this growing cohort of post-viral patients, and to manage the impending public health crisis and consequent economic

A high degree of similarity and strong links between ME/CFS and long COVID offer opportunities for researchers to collaborate.    Emerge Australia, in partnership with LaTrobe University, manages Australia’s only ME/CFS Biobank. The opportunity to develop a long COVID Biobank at LaTrobe that would work on cross matching ME/CFS and long COVID samples to identify the molecular and cellular

Emerge Australia presented the keynote address on Sunday 23 July, at the second General Practitioner conference & exhibition for 2022 in Perth. Just as at Sydney’s conference, Emerge Australia’s Medical Director Dr Richard Schloeffel, OAM, presented about diagnosis, management and treatment options for long COVID and ME/CFS.   Perth’s conference was smaller than Sydney and the

Release Date: 12 July 2022 Emerge Australia’s CEO Anne Wilson speaks with Luke Grant on 3GB radio supporting joining calls for the Federal Government to reassess its plan to cut some telehealth services and charge the cost for longer consultations directly to patients. Ms Wilson says “since the announcement of the plan, the organisation has

Evidence suggests health care professionals have little knowledge or expertise in diagnosing ME/CFS and other post-viral conditions such as long COVID. Differentiation between ME/CFS and long COVID is critical for accurate diagnosis and patient management.  Only 27% of respondents in Emerge Australia’s 2019 Health and Wellbeing survey considered their GP to be well informed about

Media Release: 12 July 2022 “Approximately 25 per cent (60,000+ people) in Australia have ME/CFS symptoms so severe they are housebound or bedbound making telehealth their only practical option.” Emerge Australia, the national patient organisation supporting an increasing number of Australians battling Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) today called on the Federal Government to reassess

It is vitally important that up-to-date national clinical guidelines are developed that reflect the current knowledge base for ME/CFS and have the capacity to incorporate emerging evidence as and when it is published.  ‘Living’ guidelines ensure that people with ME/CFS can benefit as soon as possible from advances in diagnosis and treatment ​and can be efficiently updated. It

There are many highly qualified researchers and centres that need support to conduct these correlation studies. For example, Emerge Australia, in partnership with La Trobe University, manages Australia’s only ME/CFS Biobank. This partnership aims to expand Australia’s ME/CFS Biobank to include long COVID samples, allowing researchers to compare patient cohorts. This will be a unique

Educate doctors to diagnose ME/CFS and long COVID and provide evidence-based support to people with these conditions Emerge Australia has written a 5 years plan for GP Education about ME/CFS, long COVID and post-viral diseases, accessible to all of Australia’s GPs. Research estimates 90% of people with ME/CFS have not been diagnosed and GPs often

Currently, people with ME/CFS and post-viral diseases do not routinely receive appropriate, coordinated care. Furthermore, they face barriers accessing evidence-based information and vital allied health support, all of which can inhibit symptom management and recovery. It is critical that ME/CFS and long COVID patients work in partnership with their healthcare team to understand and manage their

$1,200,000 is required over 2 years for the development of national clinical guidelines for ME/CFS to increase safety and quality of care and establish shared care It is a matter of urgency for Australia to update its clinical guidelines for ME/CFS, to ensure Australian ME/CFS patients have access to the best possible care, based on current

Patient Pathways telehealth pilot program Our Patient Pathways telehealth pilot program will be completed on June 30, 2022. Emerge Australia would like to thank the Centre for Community-Driven Research (CC-DR) for including us in this program. Over the next couple of months, we will start to create a new Telehealth Nurse referral process and provide an additional service to

Media Release 11 May 2022 Emerge Australia has urged Political Parties and Candidates standing in the Federal Election to increase their knowledge and understanding of myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS). Anne Wilson, CEO of Emerge Australia, said of the 250,000 Australians who live with ME/CFS, 25 per cent (60,000+ people), have symptoms so severe they

16-22 May 2022 Better together  Emerge Australia was created by volunteers more than 40 years ago. Today, volunteers continue to devote considerable time and expertise to Emerge Australia to ensure that we can continue to provide the high-quality services and programs for people living with ME/CFS. This National Volunteer Week we hope you will join

Update: Feedback from GPCE Sydney shows important education outcomes among GPs  Verbal feedback from Richard’s presentation about, long COVID and ME/CFS: Diagnosis, treatment and management options, in Sydney in late May was overwhelmingly positive. Formal, written feedback, provided to us last week by the organisers of the event, is equally as impressive. 80% of attendees reported that Dr

Release date: 27 April 2022 On ABC’s The Conversation Hour, Richelle Hunt and Jane McNaughton speak with Dr Richard Schloeffel, Emerge Australia’s Medical Director, about how ME/CFS is misunderstood in Australia and if those living with ME/CFS can help those being diagnosed with long COVID. Listen to the interview Published: 6th May, 2022 Share this

Media Release  Existing, 20-year-old Clinical Guides Need Review Enable this content? This content is served by a third party, player.vimeo.com.If enabled, player.vimeo.com may collect information about your activity.Manage preferences to always allow this content. Accept and EnableManage Preferences Read the report – State of the Nation: Because people with ME/CFS matter Emerge Australia has called

Media Release22 April 2022 Political Parties Warned on Major Hit On Health Budgets Enable this content? This content is served by a third party, player.vimeo.com.If enabled, player.vimeo.com may collect information about your activity.Manage preferences to always allow this content. Accept and EnableManage Preferences Read the report: State of the Nation: Because people with ME/CFS matter

Published by ABC News 22/04/2022 Authors: National medical reporter Sophie Scott and the Specialist Reporting Team’s Leonie Thorne Amanda Canzurlo has a career as a singer with a busy touring schedule, performing under the name “Bloom”.  But years ago, that would have been impossible. After a bout of glandular fever when she was 16, she

Emerge Australia’s State of the Nation report includes five priority areas for government to improve the lives of people with ME/CFS. Read: The State of the Nation: Because people with ME/CFS matter In the lead up to the federal election, Emerge Australia is writing to all federal parliamentarians to seek their support for these five

Our International Roundup provides a brief snapshot of some of the ME/CFS research funding, clinical care and advocacy actions around the world in the last few months.  Research The UK ME/CFS Priority Setting Partnership (PSP), facilitated by the James Lind Alliance (JLA), is coming to a conclusion. The aim of the PSP is to provide

Release date: 16 March 2022 On ABC’s Life Matters, Hilary Harper speaks with Emerge Australia’s CEO Anne Wilson and Dr David Putrino, Associate Professor of Rehabilitation and Human Performance, Mount Sinai Health System about how Australia might manage the impact long COVID will have on tens of thousands of Australians and what hints we can take

As part of Emerge Australia’s ongoing specialised education sessions for Allied Health professionals our Nurse Educator, Kate Herbert, presented an education session on Monday March 4th, about the basics of ME/CFS. The group of 11 physiotherapists and exercise physiologists at Merri Health, based in the northern suburbs of Melbourne were particularly interested to know about

Release date: 16 March 2022 The impact of the long term effects of COVID-19 are becoming better understood. It’s estimated that up to 30 per cent of people who get infected with COVID show symptoms months later. ABC NewsRadio’s Cameron Green spoke to Dr Richard Schloeffel, Medical Director of Emerge Australia. He says there are

Media Release: 16 March 2022 One of Australia’s leading medical specialists on complex and chronic disorders today warned the lack of research and treatment information for the medical profession on myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) can lead to inappropriate diagnosis and treatment of patients. Dr Richard Schloeffel OAM, the Medical Director of Emerge Australia, who

Media Release  Emerge Australia today revealed that approximately 75% of an estimated 250,000 Australians living with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are women. Speaking on the eve of International Women’s Day, Anne Wilson, CEO of Emerge Australia said, myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME/CFS) is a complex and disabling neurological disease that affects many parts of the body, including