contagion while with cfs - can people catch it from me?

dr Garth, having had cfs for over 3 years, i haven't been sociable at all, let alone dated or been intimate with anyone; i don't share cutlery or drink bottles or food because i'm not sure if it's something i'll infect someone else with...
is this necessary or useful? maybe in a couple if years, dating might be an option too, so is intimate contact ok and safe -?
thank you

[Garth L Nicolson, PhD]

No, you may have a point here, but you probably don't need to be extreme.  We and others have found that most CFS patients have chronic infections, and most of these infections are airborne pathogens.  Thus they can be passed to others, but the good news is that most of these infections are only moderately contagious.  That is, they require time to successfully pass from one individual to another, even within the same home environment.

Therefore, you can back off a bit, because it is unlikely that most of these infections can be passed to others by casual, limited contact.  They seem to require prolonged, close exposure to successfully infect others.

On the other hand, fluid exchange (blood, saliva, sexual fluids, etc.) appears to result in infection, so certain things should be avoided.