• Welcome to Phoenix Rising!

    Created in 2008, Phoenix Rising is the largest and oldest forum dedicated to furthering the understanding of and finding treatments for complex chronic illnesses such as chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS), fibromyalgia (FM), long COVID, postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), and allied diseases.

    To become a member, simply click the Register button at the top right.

Is ME Infectious?

Pyrrhus

Senior Member
Messages
4,172
Location
U.S., Earth
Related discussions:

Prevalence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Within Families of CFS Patients
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...atigue-within-families-of-cfs-patients.46305/
Significant differences were seen between the prevalence of CFS in all groups of family members relative to the published community prevalence of 0.422% (spouses/partners: 3.2%, p < 0.001; offspring: 5.1%, p < .001; parents and siblings: 1.1%, p < 0.02; second and third degree blood relatives 0.8%, p < 0.02). The prevalence of CFS was higher in genetically unrelated household contacts and in nonresident genetic relatives than in the community, indicating that both household contact and genetic relationship are risk factors for CFS.


I have had CFS for 6 years and my wife just developed it too
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...ears-and-my-wife-just-developed-it-too.81560/
This feels surreal to type. And I have actually been in denial for a while. But I can no longer deny that my wife now also has CFS. Her illness mirrors mine to a T. We have seen every doc in every specialty, virtually all the tests come back normal, as they did for me. We share so many little specific symptoms. It’s obvious to me that we are suffering from the same disease.
 

frozenborderline

Senior Member
Messages
4,405
Related discussions:

Prevalence of Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Chronic Fatigue Within Families of CFS Patients
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...atigue-within-families-of-cfs-patients.46305/



I have had CFS for 6 years and my wife just developed it too
https://forums.phoenixrising.me/thr...ears-and-my-wife-just-developed-it-too.81560/
I think it may come down to shared environment and shared slight genetic predisposition. My sister has mcas and probably has the hereditary alpha tryptasemia gene like me, but also the fact we grew up in a literally toxic environment probably explains both of us being sick. she doesnt have PEM, but she has a lot of similar mcas symptoms, there's a venn diagram overlap
 

unto

Senior Member
Messages
171
hi, for me surely ME is of infectious origin, before the epidemic on Lake Tahoe there were that of Los Angeles and then those of London and others, I exclude that in all of them there was a concomitance between viruses and molds, yet the disease is the same ....; then what to say about today's diffusion in all countries of the world (apart from those whose inhabitants cannot afford to notice that they are sick ...)
 

unto

Senior Member
Messages
171
also genetics for the same reasons is to be excluded, it should be noted that very often the spouses both get sick and rarely have similar genes ..... In my 36-year experience of ME, I have seen family and relatives manifesting clear symptoms of ME but also friends, colleagues and acquaintances who although some had never been to my home (therefore without genetic or environmental link) over time they developed ME