Rosenblum, Hemda, Shoenfeld, Yehuda, Amital, Howard · Infectious disease clinics of North America · 2011 · DOI
ME/CFS is a long-lasting illness of extreme fatigue and other symptoms that often starts suddenly like a flu. This review examines several theories about what might cause ME/CFS, including infections, genetic factors, hormone problems, immune system dysfunction, and psychological stress. The authors discuss a newer condition called ASIA syndrome, which involves autoimmune reactions that may be triggered by vaccine adjuvants (ingredients added to vaccines to boost immune response).
This review is important because it consolidates multiple etiologic theories for ME/CFS and highlights the emerging ASIA syndrome concept, which may help explain why some patients develop ME/CFS-like symptoms following infections or immunological triggers. Understanding potential mechanisms—whether infectious, genetic, immune-mediated, or adjuvant-related—is crucial for guiding future diagnostic and therapeutic research.
This review does not prove that vaccines or adjuvants cause ME/CFS, nor does it establish a definitive causal mechanism for the disease. It presents hypotheses and theoretical connections rather than new empirical evidence, and correlation between infectious illness onset and ME/CFS symptoms does not establish infection as the primary cause. The speculative nature of ASIA syndrome links to CFS requires rigorous prospective studies to validate.
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
Rosenblum, Hemda, Shoenfeld, Yehuda, & Amital, Howard (2011). The common immunogenic etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome: from infections to vaccines via adjuvants to the ASIA syndrome.. Infectious disease clinics of North America. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.idc.2011.07.012
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-rosenblum-2011-common-immunogenic,
author = {Rosenblum, Hemda and Shoenfeld, Yehuda and Amital, Howard},
title = {The common immunogenic etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome: from infections to vaccines via adjuvants to the ASIA syndrome.},
journal = {Infectious disease clinics of North America},
year = {2011},
doi = {10.1016/j.idc.2011.07.012},
note = {PubMed: 22054760},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/rosenblum-2011-common-immunogenic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/rosenblum-2011-common-immunogenic
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.