Strauss, Bernhard, Löschau, Maria, Seidel, Thomas et al. · Journal of psychosomatic research · 2012 · DOI
This study looked at fatigue in people who had been infected with Q fever (a bacterial infection) compared to people who hadn't had it. Researchers found that Q fever survivors reported much more fatigue than the control group, but very few met the strict criteria for chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS). People with Q fever who had fatigue also reported more health worries, physical symptoms, and emotional stress than those without fatigue.
This study illustrates how post-infectious fatigue syndromes can develop following specific pathogenic exposures and examines the interplay between physical infection and psychological factors. Understanding these mechanisms in Q fever helps contextualize similar patterns in ME/CFS, where establishing post-infectious etiology and identifying contributing psychosocial factors remains clinically important.
This study does not prove that psychological factors cause fatigue in Q fever or ME/CFS—the cross-sectional design cannot establish temporal relationships or causation. The low CFS prevalence in this sample contradicts findings from other post-Q fever studies, limiting generalizability. The presence of psychological symptoms alongside fatigue does not indicate the fatigue is psychogenic or primary.
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
Strauss, Bernhard, Löschau, Maria, Seidel, Thomas, Stallmach, Andreas, & Thomas, Andrea (2012). Are fatigue symptoms and chronic fatigue syndrome following Q fever infection related to psychosocial variables?. Journal of psychosomatic research. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jpsychores.2012.01.010
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-strauss-2012-fatigue-symptoms,
author = {Strauss, Bernhard and Löschau, Maria and Seidel, Thomas and Stallmach, Andreas and Thomas, Andrea},
title = {Are fatigue symptoms and chronic fatigue syndrome following Q fever infection related to psychosocial variables?},
journal = {Journal of psychosomatic research},
year = {2012},
doi = {10.1016/j.jpsychores.2012.01.010},
note = {PubMed: 22405225},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/strauss-2012-fatigue-symptoms},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/strauss-2012-fatigue-symptoms
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