Ablashi, D V, Salahuddin, S Z, Josephs, S F et al. · In vivo (Athens, Greece) · 1991
This review examines Human Herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6), a common virus that most people carry. The virus can reactivate in people with certain illnesses, including ME/CFS. The study found that people with ME/CFS sometimes have higher levels of antibodies to HHV-6, suggesting the virus may be active in their bodies.
This review provides important background on a virus that some ME/CFS researchers have investigated as a potential contributor to disease. Understanding HHV-6 reactivation patterns in ME/CFS could help explain immune dysfunction and inform future treatment strategies. The observation that ME/CFS patients show elevated HHV-6 antibodies suggests viral reactivation warrants further investigation as a disease mechanism.
This review does not establish that HHV-6 causes ME/CFS, only that reactivation occurs in some ME/CFS patients. It does not demonstrate the mechanism by which HHV-6 reactivation contributes to symptom severity or whether treating HHV-6 improves outcomes. The study is observational and cannot prove causation or determine whether HHV-6 reactivation is a primary driver or secondary consequence of ME/CFS pathology.
About the PEM badge: “PEM required” means post-exertional malaise was an explicit required diagnostic criterion for participant inclusion in this study — not that PEM was studied, observed, or discussed. Studies using criteria that do not require PEM (e.g. Fukuda, Oxford) are tagged “PEM not required”. How the atlas works →
The first block is for the primary paper and is the citation you should use in research work. The atlas-snapshot line only applies if you are specifically referring to this atlas’s reading of the paper on the date shown.
Primary citation
Ablashi, D V, Salahuddin, S Z, Josephs, S F, Balachandran, N, Krueger, G R, & Gallo, R C (1991). Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) (short review).. In vivo (Athens, Greece). https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/1654146/
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-ablashi-1991-human-herpesvirus-2,
author = {Ablashi, D V and Salahuddin, S Z and Josephs, S F and Balachandran, N and Krueger, G R and Gallo, R C},
title = {Human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) (short review).},
journal = {In vivo (Athens, Greece)},
year = {1991},
note = {PubMed: 1654146},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ablashi-1991-human-herpesvirus-2},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/ablashi-1991-human-herpesvirus-2
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.