Morris, Gerwyn, Maes, Michael · BMC medicine · 2013 · DOI
This review compares ME/CFS with multiple sclerosis (MS), another recognized neurological disease, and found striking similarities between them. Both conditions cause severe fatigue that worsens with exercise, autonomic problems (like dizziness and heart rate issues), and involve similar patterns of immune system activation and mitochondrial dysfunction (problems with how cells produce energy). The study suggests ME/CFS should be recognized as a genuine neuroimmune illness, similar to MS.
This systematic comparison provides scientific evidence that ME/CFS shares biological mechanisms with MS, a recognized neurological disease. For patients, this supports the legitimacy of ME/CFS as a medical condition deserving equivalent research funding and clinical recognition. For researchers, it identifies specific biological pathways and mechanisms worthy of investigation.
This review does not prove that ME/CFS and MS are the same disease, nor does it establish causal relationships between the identified biological abnormalities and symptoms. The similarities observed may reflect convergent pathological processes rather than shared etiology. Additionally, finding similar immune and mitochondrial markers does not explain why patients develop one condition versus the other.
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
Morris, Gerwyn & Maes, Michael (2013). Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and encephalomyelitis disseminata/multiple sclerosis show remarkable levels of similarity in phenomenology and neuroimmune characteristics.. BMC medicine. https://doi.org/10.1186/1741-7015-11-205
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-morris-2013-myalgic-encephalomyelitis,
author = {Morris, Gerwyn and Maes, Michael},
title = {Myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome and encephalomyelitis disseminata/multiple sclerosis show remarkable levels of similarity in phenomenology and neuroimmune characteristics.},
journal = {BMC medicine},
year = {2013},
doi = {10.1186/1741-7015-11-205},
note = {PubMed: 24229326},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/morris-2013-myalgic-encephalomyelitis},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/morris-2013-myalgic-encephalomyelitis
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