Johnson, Andrew D, Cohn, Claudia S · Clinical microbiology reviews · 2016 · DOI
In 2009, a virus called XMRV was found in some ME/CFS patients and created significant concern about blood safety. However, scientists later discovered that the virus actually came from contaminated laboratory samples, not from patients' actual infections. This paper explains how the virus was traced back to a laboratory mouse and why it turned out not to be a real threat to ME/CFS patients or blood donors.
This study is important because it clarifies that XMRV is not associated with ME/CFS and was never a legitimate biological finding in patient samples. The resolution of the XMRV controversy demonstrates the importance of rigorous contamination controls in virology research and helps restore confidence in the scientific process when initial findings are contradicted by better evidence.
This editorial does not prove that no pathogens are involved in ME/CFS pathophysiology—only that XMRV specifically is not one of them. It also does not establish whether other emerging viruses might play a role in ME/CFS, nor does it address other proposed infectious or non-infectious mechanisms of disease.
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
Johnson, Andrew D & Cohn, Claudia S (2016). Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus (XMRV) and the Safety of the Blood Supply.. Clinical microbiology reviews. https://doi.org/10.1128/CMR.00086-15
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-johnson-2016-xenotropic-murine,
author = {Johnson, Andrew D and Cohn, Claudia S},
title = {Xenotropic Murine Leukemia Virus-Related Virus (XMRV) and the Safety of the Blood Supply.},
journal = {Clinical microbiology reviews},
year = {2016},
doi = {10.1128/CMR.00086-15},
note = {PubMed: 27358491},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/johnson-2016-xenotropic-murine},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-28. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/johnson-2016-xenotropic-murine
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