Jason, Leonard A, Yoo, Samuel, Bhatia, Shaun · Chronic illness · 2022 · DOI
This study asked nearly 1,800 people with ME/CFS about infections they had before getting sick. About 60% of patients reported having an infection before their ME/CFS started, with mononucleosis being the most common. However, the study found that many different types of infections were reported, suggesting that ME/CFS might not be caused by just one infectious agent.
Understanding what infections might trigger ME/CFS is crucial for identifying at-risk patients and developing preventive strategies. This finding—that many different infections may lead to ME/CFS rather than just one—changes how researchers and doctors should think about the disease's origins and could help explain why ME/CFS affects people so differently.
This study does not prove that these infections actually cause ME/CFS—it only shows that patients remember having infections before getting sick. The study cannot distinguish between correlation and causation, and relies on patient memory and self-reported diagnoses without medical verification. It also cannot explain why some people develop ME/CFS after infection while others do not.
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
Jason, Leonard A, Yoo, Samuel, & Bhatia, Shaun (2022). Patient perceptions of infectious illnesses preceding Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.. Chronic illness. https://doi.org/10.1177/17423953211043106
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-jason-2022-patient-perceptions,
author = {Jason, Leonard A and Yoo, Samuel and Bhatia, Shaun},
title = {Patient perceptions of infectious illnesses preceding Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome.},
journal = {Chronic illness},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1177/17423953211043106},
note = {PubMed: 34541918},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jason-2022-patient-perceptions},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/jason-2022-patient-perceptions
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