Sorenson, W G · Environmental health perspectives · 1999 · DOI
This review discusses how fungal spores in the air can affect human health. Fungal spores are tiny particles that can enter the lungs when inhaled, and some contain harmful substances called mycotoxins. The article notes that breathing in fungal spores has been linked to various health problems, including chronic fatigue syndrome, along with lung disease and other serious conditions.
This work is significant because it specifically identifies chronic fatigue syndrome as a potential health outcome associated with fungal spore inhalation, linking environmental exposure to ME/CFS pathophysiology. For ME/CFS researchers and patients, this suggests an environmental exposure pathway that warrants investigation as a potential trigger or contributing factor to disease.
This review does not prove that fungal spores cause ME/CFS, nor does it establish the prevalence of fungal exposure in ME/CFS populations or demonstrate causality rather than association. The article lists chronic fatigue syndrome among multiple diverse outcomes without providing epidemiological evidence, mechanistic studies, or clinical data specific to ME/CFS.
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
Sorenson, W G (1999). Fungal spores: hazardous to health?. Environmental health perspectives. https://doi.org/10.1289/ehp.99107s3469
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-sorenson-1999-fungal-spores,
author = {Sorenson, W G},
title = {Fungal spores: hazardous to health?},
journal = {Environmental health perspectives},
year = {1999},
doi = {10.1289/ehp.99107s3469},
note = {PubMed: 10423389},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sorenson-1999-fungal-spores},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sorenson-1999-fungal-spores
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