Sullivan, Patrick F, Allander, Tobias, Lysholm, Fredrik et al. · BMC microbiology · 2011 · DOI
Researchers used advanced genetic sequencing to search for viruses in the blood of 45 people with chronic fatigue syndrome, comparing each patient to their identical twin who did not have the illness. They found that a virus called GB virus C appeared in a few patients but not in their healthy twins, suggesting it might be linked to ME/CFS. However, the overall results did not strongly support the idea that a single detectable virus causes chronic fatigue.
This study addresses a long-standing question about whether ME/CFS is caused by a persistent viral infection. By using identical twins as controls, the researchers eliminated genetic differences and environmental variation, providing a uniquely clean comparison to identify infectious agents specific to ME/CFS cases.
This study does not prove that viruses do not cause ME/CFS—it only demonstrates that common viral signatures detectable in blood are not robustly associated with the illness. The finding does not rule out viruses in other tissues, latent infections, or viral triggers early in disease that resolve before serum testing. A single-timepoint serum test may miss infections present only at disease onset or sequestered outside the bloodstream.
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
Sullivan, Patrick F, Allander, Tobias, Lysholm, Fredrik, Goh, Shan, Persson, Bengt, Jacks, Andreas, et al. (2011). An unbiased metagenomic search for infectious agents using monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue.. BMC microbiology. https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2180-11-2
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-sullivan-2011-unbiased-metagenomic,
author = {Sullivan, Patrick F and Allander, Tobias and Lysholm, Fredrik and Goh, Shan and Persson, Bengt and Jacks, Andreas and Evengård, Birgitta and Pedersen, Nancy L and Andersson, Björn},
title = {An unbiased metagenomic search for infectious agents using monozygotic twins discordant for chronic fatigue.},
journal = {BMC microbiology},
year = {2011},
doi = {10.1186/1471-2180-11-2},
note = {PubMed: 21194495},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sullivan-2011-unbiased-metagenomic},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-30. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/sullivan-2011-unbiased-metagenomic
Contribute
Private, reviewed by a human. Not a public comment thread.