Briese, Thomas, Tokarz, Rafal, Bateman, Lucinda et al. · Journal of medical virology · 2023 · DOI
Researchers looked for viruses in blood, saliva, and stool samples from ME/CFS patients and compared them to healthy people. They used advanced testing methods to search for viral genetic material but found no consistent differences between the two groups, except that ME/CFS patients had fewer anelloviruses (a common, typically harmless virus). This suggests that if viruses play a role in ME/CFS, the problem may not be the presence of the virus itself, but rather how the body's immune system responds to it.
Since many ME/CFS patients report viral triggers for their illness, understanding whether persistent viruses play a role is crucial. This study's finding that viruses aren't consistently present suggests researchers should investigate immune system dysfunction rather than just looking for viruses, potentially opening new treatment pathways.
This study does not prove that viruses do not cause ME/CFS—it only shows they are not consistently detectable in blood, saliva, and stool. The study cannot exclude viruses hiding in other tissues, nor does it address whether past viral infections (even if cleared) trigger ongoing immune abnormalities. It also does not explain why some patients improve with antiviral medications.
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
Briese, Thomas, Tokarz, Rafal, Bateman, Lucinda, Che, Xiaoyu, Guo, Cheng, Jain, Komal, et al. (2023). A multicenter virome analysis of blood, feces, and saliva in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.. Journal of medical virology. https://doi.org/10.1002/jmv.28993
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-briese-2023-multicenter-virome,
author = {Briese, Thomas and Tokarz, Rafal and Bateman, Lucinda and Che, Xiaoyu and Guo, Cheng and Jain, Komal and Kapoor, Vishal and Levine, Susan and Hornig, Mady and Oleynik, Alexandra and Quan, Phenix-Lan and Wong, Wai H and Williams, Brent L and Vernon, Suzanne D and Klimas, Nancy G and Peterson, Daniel L and Montoya, Jose G and Ian Lipkin, Walter},
title = {A multicenter virome analysis of blood, feces, and saliva in myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome.},
journal = {Journal of medical virology},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1002/jmv.28993},
note = {PubMed: 37526404},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/briese-2023-multicenter-virome},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/briese-2023-multicenter-virome
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