, professor Hanson explores several hypotheses related to the causes of ME/CFS, including a likely culprit in viral infections, particularly those from the enterovirus family.
Post-viral syndromes, including post-acute sequelae of COVID-19 . These are included in an emerging area of clinical understanding. Some individuals with mild or asymptomatic COVID-19 later experience a post-viral illness that shares symptoms with ME/CFS. This raises questions about the relationship between other lesser-known or less apparent infections and their potential to cause post-viral syndromes and ME/CFS.
Hanson argues that there is no proof that multiple pathogens can cause ME/CFS. She suggests that the hypothesis persists due to the overinterpretation of data from previous studies where the initial infection type was either missed, inferred but not verified, or where the symptom survey did not include ME/CFS defining criteria.
Increasingly, these people are told by their doctors that they have ME/CFS, but the diagnostic criteria were created six years before SARS-CoV-2 emerged. Those who acquired ME/CFS before the SARS-CoV-2 outbreak also number in the tens of millions, and the source of their initial infection often remains a mystery.