Kazar, Jan · Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences · 2005 · DOI
Coxiella burnetii is a bacterium that causes Q fever, a disease spread mainly through contact with infected animals like cattle, sheep, and goats. Most people infected have no symptoms or mild flu-like illness, but some develop chronic complications including chronic fatigue syndrome. This review examines how the bacterium survives in the body and causes different forms of disease depending on a person's immune system and overall health.
This study is relevant to ME/CFS research because it identifies Coxiella burnetii infection as a documented potential trigger of chronic fatigue syndrome. Understanding how this bacterium establishes persistent infection and evades the immune system may provide insights into mechanisms underlying post-infectious ME/CFS and inform investigation of infectious triggers in ME/CFS patients.
This review does not establish a causal link between C. burnetii infection and ME/CFS development, nor does it provide prevalence data for C. burnetii seropositivity in ME/CFS populations. It does not prove that chronic fatigue following Q fever represents the same pathophysiological condition as ME/CFS diagnosed by current clinical criteria, nor does it clarify what proportion of Q fever patients develop chronic fatigue.
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
Kazar, Jan (2005). Coxiella burnetii infection.. Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences. https://doi.org/10.1196/annals.1355.018
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-kazar-2005-coxiella-burnetii,
author = {Kazar, Jan},
title = {Coxiella burnetii infection.},
journal = {Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences},
year = {2005},
doi = {10.1196/annals.1355.018},
note = {PubMed: 16481501},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kazar-2005-coxiella-burnetii},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/kazar-2005-coxiella-burnetii
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