Hannestad, Ulf, Apostolou, Eirini, Sjögren, Per et al. · Frontiers in medicine · 2023 · DOI
This study found that people with ME/CFS who caught COVID-19 showed signs of a dormant virus (adenovirus) waking up in their mouth and throat. The researchers compared saliva samples from ME/CFS patients and healthy people, and only the ME/CFS patients showed this reactivation after COVID-19 infection. This suggests that ME/CFS patients may have a weakened immune system that cannot keep these latent viruses under control when faced with a new infection like COVID-19.
Understanding viral reactivation patterns in ME/CFS may explain why some patients experience symptom exacerbation following acute infections like COVID-19. These findings could identify a subgroup of ME/CFS patients who might benefit from antiviral therapies targeting adenovirus or immune-modulating treatments. This research provides molecular evidence supporting the immune dysfunction hypothesis in ME/CFS and highlights post-COVID infection as a potential trigger for disease progression.
This study does not prove that adenovirus reactivation causes ME/CFS symptoms or that treating adenovirus will improve ME/CFS outcomes. The research demonstrates correlation and reactivation patterns but does not establish causation or whether the detected antibodies reflect active viral replication. The findings apply specifically to the oral mucosa and may not generalize to systemic pathology or all ME/CFS patient populations.
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
Hannestad, Ulf, Apostolou, Eirini, Sjögren, Per, Bragée, Björn, Polo, Olli, Bertilson, Bo Christer, et al. (2023). Post-COVID sequelae effect in chronic fatigue syndrome: SARS-CoV-2 triggers latent adenovirus in the oral mucosa.. Frontiers in medicine. https://doi.org/10.3389/fmed.2023.1208181
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-hannestad-2023-post-covid,
author = {Hannestad, Ulf and Apostolou, Eirini and Sjögren, Per and Bragée, Björn and Polo, Olli and Bertilson, Bo Christer and Rosén, Anders},
title = {Post-COVID sequelae effect in chronic fatigue syndrome: SARS-CoV-2 triggers latent adenovirus in the oral mucosa.},
journal = {Frontiers in medicine},
year = {2023},
doi = {10.3389/fmed.2023.1208181},
note = {PubMed: 37457558},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hannestad-2023-post-covid},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/hannestad-2023-post-covid
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.