[News] Narcolepsy and H1N1

[epileric]

This was in the news that there was a spike in children having narcolepsy.

Dr. Mignot is on the hunt to understand the cause of the phenomenon, collecting blood samples from children with the disorder from around the globe. In China he reviewed narcolepsy cases following the 2009 H1N1 pandemic. He discovered that China had a threefold increase in the sleep disorder. The majority were children.

His theory is that in some cases, the H1N1 virus itself triggered the immune system to destroy hypocretin cells in the brain that run the sleep-wake cycle, research he published in the Annals of Neurology in 2011.

"Before H1N1 we were getting closer but we could not really find (the trigger)," he said. “And then with H1N1 it was clear that the flu had to be involved at least for this outbreak.”

Read more: http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/sleeping-s...-childhood-narcolepsy-1.1524420#ixzz2jX5IJyKL

http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/sleeping-sickness-a-w5-investigation-into-the-sudden-rise-in-childhood-narcolepsy-1.1524420

http://www.ctvnews.ca/w5/narcolepsy-w5-fact-file-1.1524679