Oakes, Brendan, Tai, Albert K, Cingöz, Oya et al. · Retrovirology · 2010 · DOI
Researchers tested blood samples from ME/CFS patients and healthy people for a virus called XMRV. They discovered that when using very sensitive testing methods, they were getting false positive results because mouse DNA was contaminating the samples, not because patients actually had the virus. This study shows why careful testing procedures are essential when looking for viruses in patient samples.
This study is critical because it explains why earlier conflicting XMRV findings in ME/CFS patients may have been artifacts of contamination rather than true viral infections. Understanding proper testing methodology helps researchers conduct more reliable investigations into potential infectious triggers for ME/CFS and improves confidence in future viral detection studies.
This study does not prove that XMRV is absent in ME/CFS patients—only that previous positive results may have been methodological artifacts. It also does not establish whether other viruses or infectious agents play a role in ME/CFS pathogenesis, nor does it explain the original findings of XMRV in prostate cancer samples.
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
Oakes, Brendan, Tai, Albert K, Cingöz, Oya, Henefield, Madeleine H, Levine, Susan, Coffin, John M, et al. (2010). Contamination of human DNA samples with mouse DNA can lead to false detection of XMRV-like sequences.. Retrovirology. https://doi.org/10.1186/1742-4690-7-109
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-oakes-2010-contamination-human,
author = {Oakes, Brendan and Tai, Albert K and Cingöz, Oya and Henefield, Madeleine H and Levine, Susan and Coffin, John M and Huber, Brigitte T},
title = {Contamination of human DNA samples with mouse DNA can lead to false detection of XMRV-like sequences.},
journal = {Retrovirology},
year = {2010},
doi = {10.1186/1742-4690-7-109},
note = {PubMed: 21171973},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/oakes-2010-contamination-human},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/oakes-2010-contamination-human
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