Seroepidemiology of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Case-Control Study

Abstract

We performed serological testing for a large number of infectious agents in 26 patients from Atlanta who had chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) and in 50 controls matched by age, race, and sex. We did not find any agent associated with CFS. In addition, we did not find elevated levels of antibody to any of a wide range of agents examined. In particular, we did not find elevated titers of antibody to any herpesvirus, nor did we find evidence of enteroviral exposure in this group of patients.

Genetic evaluation of AMPD1, CPT2, and PGYM metabolic enzymes in patients with chronic fatigue syndrome

“…However, this is unlikely to reflect the real situation due to the small number of subjects reporting alternative trigger factors. Despite a number of publications showing that viral infections only explain a small proportion of CFS cases (Gold et al, 1990;Heneine et al, 1994;Mawle et al, 1995), we found that the proportion of patients reporting viral infection as a trigger factor (76%) was high. This suggested a possible relationship between carnitine deficiency and infections (Mintz, 1995;Famularo et al, 2004).…”

Developing Case Definitions for Symptom-based Conditions: the Problem of Specificity

“…To identify distinguishing signs of postulated diseases, physical examination and laboratory testing are essential, particularly in case-control and longitudinal studies (4,74,116). As done previously, cases can be tentatively categorized using self-reported clinical and epidemiologic criteria.…”

Post-infective and chronic fatigue syndromes precipitated by viral and non-viral pathogens: prospective cohort study

“…Although chronic fatigue syndrome is commonly reported to develop after an acute infective illness, 2 3 many case-control studies have failed to find consistent associations between chronic fatigue syndrome and either known or novel infectious agents. 4 – 6 Post-infective fatigue states have a long history and have been linked to a diverse spectrum of infections, including brucellosis (which is caused by an intracellular bacterium),7 glandular fever (caused by the herpesvirus Epstein-Barr virus),8 Lyme disease (caused by infection with the tickborne spirochaete Borrelia burgdorferi ),9 Q fever (caused by the intracellular, rickettsia-like pathogen Coxiella burnetii) ,10 Ross River virus (a mosquito-borne arbovirus found in countries around the Pacific rim),11 and viral meningitis (most commonly caused by enteroviral infection) 12. By contrast, a comprehensive prospective study of clinical outcomes after other common, more minor, viral infections found no association with prolonged fatigue 13.…”