Frykholm, B O · Medical hypotheses · 2009 · DOI
This small pilot study tested whether antibiotics could help patients with severe psychiatric symptoms and ME/CFS, based on the idea that certain bacteria might be involved in these conditions. Two ME/CFS patients received 60 days of antibiotics combined with vitamin B injections; one reported complete recovery and one reported significant improvement at the one-year follow-up.
This study raises the hypothesis that infection may contribute to ME/CFS pathogenesis and suggests antibiotic treatment as a potential intervention. While preliminary, the reported positive outcomes warrant further investigation through rigorous controlled trials in ME/CFS populations.
This study does not establish that infection causes ME/CFS or that antibiotics are an effective treatment. The open-label design with no control group, small sample size (n=2 ME/CFS patients), absence of microbiological testing, and lack of blinding make it impossible to distinguish treatment effects from placebo response, natural recovery, or reporting bias.
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
Frykholm, B O (2009). On the question of infectious aetiologies for multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and the chronic fatigue syndrome and their treatment with antibiotics.. Medical hypotheses. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.mehy.2008.11.045
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-frykholm-2009-question-infectious,
author = {Frykholm, B O},
title = {On the question of infectious aetiologies for multiple sclerosis, schizophrenia and the chronic fatigue syndrome and their treatment with antibiotics.},
journal = {Medical hypotheses},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.1016/j.mehy.2008.11.045},
note = {PubMed: 19269110},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/frykholm-2009-question-infectious},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/frykholm-2009-question-infectious
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.