Our News Articles

Emerge Australia returned to Sydney GPCE this year, 19-21st May, to continue educating GPs about ME/CFS and long COVID – especially when PEM is a feature. Emerge Australia’s Medical Director, Dr Richard Schoeffel, delivered an Advanced Education course twice during the conference, educating 180 GPs about ME/CFS and long COVID.   Demand for the topic was

Anne Wilson, CEO of Emerge Australia visited the Victorian Artists Society to announce VAS Artist Kristan Oud as an Ambassador for Emerge Australia. Emerge Australia – is a national patient organisation that gives hope to over 500,000 people with myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) and long COVID through patient support and information, clinical education, advocacy and biomedical research.  Kristan Oud said “With no

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 DecodeME genome-wide association study is underway and has reported on progress made so far. By the end of 2022, 23,000 participants had registered for the

In 2022, Emerge Australia’s Medical Director, Dr Richard Schloeffel, OAM presented the keynote address at four General Practitioner Conference and Exhibitions (GPCE) with overwhelmingly positive feedback. At these conferences, we demystified the disease by presenting the latest research and providing practical, applicable management options to create a better experience for the patient.    Another theme from

Emerge Australia has announced champion of women Tracey Spicer AM as its new ambassador. The respected journalist and campaigner, with a career spanning radio, television, and newspapers, is throwing her weight behind Emerge Australia, the national patient organisation that represents, supports and advocates for people with post-viral infections including Myalgic Encephalomyelitis* and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS) and increasingly long COVID. Research is finding overlaps

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 Centers for Disease control published its long-awaited evidence review of ME/CFS diagnosis and management. The report followed an extensive public consultation process, with submissions from

Published: 19 December 2022 Emerge Australia’s CEO, Anne Wilson, spoke with the ABC’s Fiona Blackwood about how greater access to government supports like Medicare, NDIS and the disability pension were needed for patients living with invisible illnesses like ME/CFS and long COVID “Because those diseases are classified as diseases rather than a disability, it is very

Release Date: 1st December 2022 Eligibility for oral COVID-19 treatments The Pharmaceutical Benefits Advisory Committee recommended changes to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) eligibility criteria of oral treatments for COVID-19. This will take effect from 1 November 2022. Antiviral treatments taken as capsules or tablets may help stop COVID-19 infection from becoming severe. Courses of

Publish date 27 October 2022 The ABC’s Sophie Scott and Stephanie Dalzell recently spoke with Emerge Australia’s CEO, Anne Wilson, as part of their story on the Federal Governments underfunding of long COVID in Australia. Health authorities around the world are spending billions on tackling long COVID, with innovative research projects for new treatments and

Release Date: 27 October 2022 Emerge Australia’s CEO Anne Wilson speaks with Ros Childs on the ABC expressing disappointment at the latest federal budget, handed down on Tuesday, providing no funding for the sufferers of ME/CFS and long COVID. Ms Wilson details how Emerge Australia may be forced to close essential patient services, including the

Media Release: 12 October 2022 How Would You Cope facing the daily battle of Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), for which there is no known cure? Click the Links below to listen to Emma and Caitlin’s stories. Emma’s Story ‘Its a Women’s Health Issue’ Click the Link Below A Women’s Health Issue | Emerge Australia

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