Vaccination as teenagers against meningococcal disease and the risk of the chronic fatigue syndrome

The etiology of chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS)/myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME) is unknown. In Norway, a vaccine against Neisseria meningitides group B was administered to teenagers in 1988–1989 in a protection trial. In order to estimate the relative risk of CFS/ME according to vaccine history, we conducted a case–control study in 2007, with 201 cases diagnosed at one of two hospitals and 389 controls. The adjusted odds ratio for CFS/ME was 1.06 (95% CI: 0.67–1.66) for subjects who received the active vaccine contrasted to subjects who did not. Using this design, no statistically significant association between vaccination against meningococcal disease in teenagers and occurrence of CFS/ME could be observed.