Washington, August 22 (ANI): A rise in H1N1 infections and colds could trigger a rare sleeping disorder, according to a new research
The findings show that a peak in narcolepsy cases occurred five to seven months after a peak in H1N1 infections and flu in the country.
The study, however, found no correlation between vaccination and narcolepsy among the patients studied in China.
"Together with recent findings, these results strongly suggest that winter airway infections such as influenza A (including H1N1), and/or Streptococcus pyogenes are triggers for narcolepsy," Mignot, a professor of psychiatry and behavioral sciences, and his colleagues wrote in the paper.
"The new finding of an association with infection, and not vaccination, is important as it suggests that limiting vaccination because of a fear of narcolepsy could actually increase overall risk," the authors wrote.
Experts believe that a person has a genetic predisposition to the disease, and some environmental factor kicks his or her immune system into action leading to narcolepsy.
They looked at 906 patients in Beijing who had been diagnosed with the sleeping disorder between 1998 and earlier this year, and found that the onset was seasonal.
Onset was least frequent in November and most frequent in April; there was a five- to seven-month delay between the seasonal peak in flu/cold or H1N1 infections and the peak in narcolepsy onset occurrences.
The team also found a threefold increase in disease onset, but only 5.6 per cent of the patients studied said they had been vaccinated.
The study was recently published in Annals of Neurology, a journal of the American Neurological Association and Child Neurology Society. (ANI)
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