Simmons, Graham, Glynn, Simone A, Komaroff, Anthony L et al. · Science (New York, N.Y.) · 2011 · DOI
Some researchers had claimed that a virus called XMRV might be linked to ME/CFS. This study tested blood samples from 15 people previously reported to have this virus and 15 healthy people without it, sending them to 9 different labs for testing. The labs could not consistently find the virus, and when they did find it, the results were similar in both ME/CFS patients and healthy people. This suggests the virus is not reliably present in ME/CFS patients' blood.
This study was crucial for the ME/CFS field because it provided evidence that controversial claims linking XMRV to ME/CFS could not be independently verified, preventing potentially misleading diagnostic or therapeutic directions and helping redirect research efforts toward more reproducible findings. It demonstrates the importance of multi-laboratory validation in infectious disease research and established that blood donor screening for XMRV was unnecessary.
This study does not prove that viruses play no role in ME/CFS, only that XMRV/MLVs cannot be reliably detected in blood samples using the assays tested. It does not address whether these viruses might be present in other tissues or whether other viruses or pathogens might contribute to ME/CFS. The lack of detection does not explain the biological mechanisms underlying ME/CFS symptoms.
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
Simmons, Graham, Glynn, Simone A, Komaroff, Anthony L, Mikovits, Judy A, Tobler, Leslie H, Hackett, John, et al. (2011). Failure to confirm XMRV/MLVs in the blood of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a multi-laboratory study.. Science (New York, N.Y.). https://doi.org/10.1126/science.1213841
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-simmons-2011-failure-confirm,
author = {Simmons, Graham and Glynn, Simone A and Komaroff, Anthony L and Mikovits, Judy A and Tobler, Leslie H and Hackett, John and Tang, Ning and Switzer, William M and Heneine, Walid and Hewlett, Indira K and Zhao, Jiangqin and Lo, Shyh-Ching and Alter, Harvey J and Linnen, Jeffrey M and Gao, Kui and Coffin, John M and Kearney, Mary F and Ruscetti, Francis W and Pfost, Max A and Bethel, James and Kleinman, Steven and Holmberg, Jerry A and Busch, Michael P and Blood XMRV Scientific Research Working Group (SRWG)},
title = {Failure to confirm XMRV/MLVs in the blood of patients with chronic fatigue syndrome: a multi-laboratory study.},
journal = {Science (New York, N.Y.)},
year = {2011},
doi = {10.1126/science.1213841},
note = {PubMed: 21940862},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/simmons-2011-failure-confirm},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-29. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/simmons-2011-failure-confirm
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