Wang, Jing-Hua, Choi, Yujin, Lee, Jin-Seok et al. · European journal of medical research · 2024 · DOI
Researchers reviewed 11 studies comparing gut bacteria in ME/CFS patients to healthy people. They found that people with ME/CFS have fewer types of bacteria and different bacterial communities in their guts compared to healthy controls. Additionally, ME/CFS patients produce lower levels of certain beneficial bacterial byproducts that are normally important for health.
Understanding the gut microbiome's role in ME/CFS could open new treatment possibilities and help explain some patients' symptoms. If microbiome dysfunction contributes to ME/CFS, targeted interventions to restore beneficial bacteria might become viable therapeutic options.
This review does not prove that gut microbiome changes cause ME/CFS—it only shows an association between the two. The study cannot determine whether microbiome alterations trigger ME/CFS, result from having the condition, or both occur independently. Different studies used different methods to measure bacteria, which limits the strength of conclusions.
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
Wang, Jing-Hua, Choi, Yujin, Lee, Jin-Seok, Hwang, Seung-Ju, Gu, Jiyeon, & Son, Chang-Gue (2024). Clinical evidence of the link between gut microbiome and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a retrospective review.. European journal of medical research. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40001-024-01747-1
BibTeX
@article{mecfsatlas-wang-2024-clinical-evidence,
author = {Wang, Jing-Hua and Choi, Yujin and Lee, Jin-Seok and Hwang, Seung-Ju and Gu, Jiyeon and Son, Chang-Gue},
title = {Clinical evidence of the link between gut microbiome and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome: a retrospective review.},
journal = {European journal of medical research},
year = {2024},
doi = {10.1186/s40001-024-01747-1},
note = {PubMed: 38429822},
url = {https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2024-clinical-evidence},
}Atlas snapshot reference
ME/CFS Atlas. Generator v1 / Scanner v1.4 / policy v0.1. Accessed 2026-05-26. https://www.mecfsatlas.com/evidence/wang-2024-clinical-evidence
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