Mohammed, Reem Hamdy Abdellatif, ElMakhzangy, Hesham Ibrahim, Gamal, Amira et al. · Clinical rheumatology · 2010 · DOI
This study looked at 306 people in Egypt with chronic hepatitis C virus (HCV) infection to see how often they experienced joint pain, fatigue, dry eyes, and other autoimmune-related symptoms. Researchers found that about 16% of people with HCV had these types of rheumatologic symptoms, with fatigue and dry eyes being most common. The study suggests that HCV infection can trigger these kinds of whole-body symptoms through autoimmune mechanisms.
This study is relevant to ME/CFS research because chronic fatigue syndrome was identified as a common extrahepatic manifestation of HCV infection (9.5% prevalence), suggesting that viral infections can trigger persistent fatigue and autoimmune symptoms. Understanding how chronic viral infections produce fatigue and multisystem symptoms may illuminate similar mechanisms in ME/CFS, particularly the role of autoimmune activation in symptom pathogenesis.
This study does not establish that ME/CFS is caused by HCV or that HCV patients represent a ME/CFS population—it only documents that fatigue occurs as one manifestation among many in HCV-infected individuals. The cross-sectional design cannot establish causality or temporal relationships between HCV infection and symptom onset. Additionally, findings from an Egyptian HCV-4 dominant population may not generalize to ME/CFS populations in other geographic regions with different HCV genotypes.
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
Mohammed, Reem Hamdy Abdellatif, ElMakhzangy, Hesham Ibrahim, Gamal, Amira, Mekky, Fatma, El Kassas, Mohammed, Mohammed, Nabil, et al. (2010). Prevalence of rheumatologic manifestations of chronic hepatitis C virus infection among Egyptians.. Clinical rheumatology. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10067-010-1463-x
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-mohammed-2010-prevalence-rheumatologic,
author = {Mohammed, Reem Hamdy Abdellatif and ElMakhzangy, Hesham Ibrahim and Gamal, Amira and Mekky, Fatma and El Kassas, Mohammed and Mohammed, Nabil and Abdel Hamid, Mohammed and Esmat, Gamal},
title = {Prevalence of rheumatologic manifestations of chronic hepatitis C virus infection among Egyptians.},
journal = {Clinical rheumatology},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1007/s10067-010-1463-x},
note = {PubMed: 20411290},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mohammed-2010-prevalence-rheumatologic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/mohammed-2010-prevalence-rheumatologic
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.