Mahnke, C, Kashaiya, P, Rössler, J et al. · Archives of virology · 1992 · DOI
Researchers tested blood samples from over 3,000 people in Africa and Europe to look for antibodies to a virus called human spumavirus. They found that about 3% of people worldwide had signs of this virus in their blood, but in African patients the rate was much higher at 6.3%. Notably, patients with ME/CFS, multiple sclerosis, and Graves' disease showed very low or no evidence of this virus.
This study examined whether human spumavirus—a retrovirus with uncertain pathogenic role—might be associated with ME/CFS and other chronic conditions. The finding that ME/CFS patients showed no or very low spumavirus seropositivity argues against this particular viral agent as a common contributor to ME/CFS pathogenesis, helping to refocus research attention on other potential infectious or post-infectious mechanisms.
This study does not prove that spumavirus plays no role in any individual ME/CFS case, nor does it demonstrate that absence of seropositivity rules out past infection or reactivation. The cross-sectional design captures only a single time point and cannot establish causality or temporal relationships between viral exposure and disease onset.
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
Mahnke, C, Kashaiya, P, Rössler, J, Bannert, H, Levin, A, Blattner, W A, et al. (1992). Human spumavirus antibodies in sera from African patients.. Archives of virology. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01317261
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-mahnke-1992-human-spumavirus,
author = {Mahnke, C and Kashaiya, P and Rössler, J and Bannert, H and Levin, A and Blattner, W A and Dietrich, M and Luande, J and Löchelt, M and Friedman-Kien, A E},
title = {Human spumavirus antibodies in sera from African patients.},
journal = {Archives of virology},
year = {1992},
doi = {10.1007/BF01317261},
note = {PubMed: 1314048},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mahnke-1992-human-spumavirus},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mahnke-1992-human-spumavirus
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