Akureyri disease is the name used for an outbreak of what is now recognised as myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome in Iceland. A disease with symptoms similar to poliomyelitis broke out in the town of Akureyri in northern Iceland in the winter of 1948–1949. The center of the epidemic was in the main secondary boarding school. The predominant symptoms were tiredness and exhaustion. Since the outbreak of the disease, those affected were often thought to have a psychiatric disorder such as hysteria.