Li, Haijing, Meng, Shufang, Levine, Susan M et al. · Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology · 2009 · DOI
Researchers developed a new test to detect human herpesvirus-6 (HHV-6) in patient samples, even when the virus is present in very small amounts. The test can also tell the difference between two types of HHV-6 (called variant A and B). When tested on urine samples from people with and without chronic fatigue syndrome, the test successfully detected the virus in a small number of patients.
Improved detection methods for HHV-6 are important for ME/CFS research because some studies have suggested a possible association between HHV-6 and the condition. This test's ability to detect very low viral loads and distinguish between HHV-6 variants could help clarify HHV-6's role in ME/CFS and identify which patients might benefit from specific treatments.
This study does not establish whether HHV-6 causes ME/CFS or whether it contributes to disease symptoms. The small sample size (27 urine specimens) and limited ME/CFS-specific findings mean conclusions about HHV-6's clinical relevance in ME/CFS remain preliminary. The study focuses on assay development and validation rather than investigating disease mechanisms.
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
Li, Haijing, Meng, Shufang, Levine, Susan M, Stratton, Charles W, & Tang, Yi-Wei (2009). Sensitive, qualitative detection of human herpesvirus-6 and simultaneous differentiation of variants A and B.. Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jcv.2009.05.016
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-li-2009-sensitive-qualitative,
author = {Li, Haijing and Meng, Shufang and Levine, Susan M and Stratton, Charles W and Tang, Yi-Wei},
title = {Sensitive, qualitative detection of human herpesvirus-6 and simultaneous differentiation of variants A and B.},
journal = {Journal of clinical virology : the official publication of the Pan American Society for Clinical Virology},
year = {2009},
doi = {10.1016/j.jcv.2009.05.016},
note = {PubMed: 19540801},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2009-sensitive-qualitative},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/li-2009-sensitive-qualitative
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