García-Álvarez, Lara, Pérez-Matute, Patricia, Blanco, José Ramón et al. · Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiologia clinica · 2016 · DOI
Researchers tested stool samples from healthy people, HIV patients, and people with ME/CFS from Spain to see how common a bacterium called Tropheryma whipplei was in each group. They found this bacterium in about 25% of all samples, but it was more common in HIV patients (34%) than in healthy people without other conditions (20%), and was not found in any of the ME/CFS patients tested.
This study investigates a potential microbial pathogen in ME/CFS patients alongside comparison groups, contributing to the search for infectious or dysbiotic contributors to the disease. The finding that T. whipplei was absent in all ME/CFS patients tested suggests this particular bacterium may not play a role in ME/CFS pathogenesis, though larger studies are needed. Understanding which pathogens are and are not associated with ME/CFS helps researchers refine hypotheses about disease etiology.
This study does not prove that T. whipplei causes or contributes to ME/CFS, nor does it establish that the absence of this pathogen in ME/CFS patients rules out a microbial cause of the disease. The cross-sectional design cannot determine causation or temporal relationships. The very small ME/CFS sample size (n=12) limits the statistical power to detect associations.
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 →
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Primary citation
García-Álvarez, Lara, Pérez-Matute, Patricia, Blanco, José Ramón, Ibarra, Valvanera, & Oteo, José Antonio (2016). High prevalence of asymptomatic carriers of Tropheryma whipplei in different populations from the North of Spain.. Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiologia clinica. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.eimc.2015.09.006
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-garca-lvarez-2016-high-prevalence,
author = {García-Álvarez, Lara and Pérez-Matute, Patricia and Blanco, José Ramón and Ibarra, Valvanera and Oteo, José Antonio},
title = {High prevalence of asymptomatic carriers of Tropheryma whipplei in different populations from the North of Spain.},
journal = {Enfermedades infecciosas y microbiologia clinica},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1016/j.eimc.2015.09.006},
note = {PubMed: 26585816},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/garca-lvarez-2016-high-prevalence},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/garca-lvarez-2016-high-prevalence
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