Guo, Cheng, Yi, Boyang, Wu, Jianyong et al. · Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2023 · DOI
This review examined how the bacteria and other microorganisms living in our bodies—particularly in the gut and mouth—may be altered in patients with prolonged illnesses following infections, including ME/CFS and long COVID. The researchers looked at existing studies to understand whether changes in these microbial communities might contribute to why some people develop long-lasting symptoms after being sick. They explored possible explanations for how these microbial changes could trigger or worsen symptoms in post-infection syndromes.
Understanding microbiome changes in ME/CFS could reveal new biological mechanisms underlying the illness and identify potential treatment targets. This review provides a consolidated framework for how microbial dysbiosis might connect different post-infection syndromes, offering hope for shared diagnostic markers and therapeutic approaches applicable to ME/CFS patients.
This review does not prove that microbiome dysbiosis causes ME/CFS or other PAIS conditions—it identifies associations and correlations from existing studies. The review cannot establish definitive causal mechanisms or establish which microbiome changes are primary drivers versus secondary consequences of illness. Individual study limitations (small sample sizes, cross-sectional designs, methodological variation) were not systematically resolved through this synthesis.
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
Guo, Cheng, Yi, Boyang, Wu, Jianyong, & Lu, Jiahai (2023). The microbiome in post-acute infection syndrome (PAIS).. Computational and structural biotechnology journal. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.csbj.2023.08.002
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-guo-2023-microbiome-post,
author = {Guo, Cheng and Yi, Boyang and Wu, Jianyong and Lu, Jiahai},
title = {The microbiome in post-acute infection syndrome (PAIS).},
journal = {Computational and structural biotechnology journal},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.1016/j.csbj.2023.08.002},
note = {PubMed: 37602232},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/guo-2023-microbiome-post},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/guo-2023-microbiome-post
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