College Kids Get Mumps Two Years Ago, CDC Freaks Out

An article published in the New England Journal of Medicine this spring detailed what the authors called a "resurgence" of mumps in the United States. The US Department of Health and Human Services in their Healthy People 2010 Initiative had set a goal of eliminating mumps, but an outbreak two years ago in Iowa colleges (of the 6500 + cases, none were fatal) made some medical researchers doubt if the goal was achievable.
The collection of symptoms known as mumps is on a resurgence (because as any good pathologist will tell you, a disease doesn't cause symptoms, per se, but rather the specific reaction of the immune system to being overcome by a certain pathogen is how a "disease" is classified), primarily amongst college-aged adults, despite a doubling over the last twenty years of the number of times those people were vaccinated as children. The most telling line in the journal's abstract: “A more effective mumps vaccine or changes in vaccine policy may be needed to avert future outbreaks and achieve the elimination of mumps.” How should we read that conclusion?
Either: 1) One of the most controversial vaccines on the market, the MMR vaccine, may not work, and if that’s not the case, 2) There may be recommendations to increase the vaccination schedule from two to three shots. Isn’t the colloquial definition of insanity repeating the same thing over and over but expecting different results?
Reference:
Dayan GH, Quinlisk MP, Parker AA, Barskey AE, Harris ML, Hill Schwartz JM, Hunt, K, Finley CG, Leschinsky DP, O'Keefe AL, Clayton J, Kightlinger LK, Dietle EG, Berg J, Kenyon CL, Goldstein ST, Stokley SK, Redd SB, Rota PA, Rota J, Bi D, Roush SW, Bridges CB, Santibanez TA, Parashar U, Bellini WJ, Seward, JF (2008). "Recent Resurgence of Mumps in the United States." New England Journal of Medicine 358 (15), pp 1580-1589.

Celiac Disease and the Autoimmune vs Nervous System Battle

The Journal of Neuroimmunology published a paper earlier this year discussing Celiac Disease (CD) and its possible link with the nervous system. Celiac disease is an increasingly common gastro-intestinal problem that has autoimmune properties. The symptoms of inflammation, bloating, pain, weight loss and irritable bowel make this a challenge to treat nutritionally. The above study investigated the neurological relationship between the immune system and nervous system in people diagnosed with CD, and found that in almost half the cases the immune system would attack the nervous system proteins. Interestingly this attack mode wasn’t correlated with the other neurological symptoms of headaches, depression, epilepsy, etc, and the reaction of the antibodies didn’t change with a change in diet, either. Why is this interesting? Most of the journal articles on neurology seem moderately obsessed with these symptoms and their absence points to an entirely different tack in neuroscience research.
The immune systems of people suffering from CD are in a state of hyper-vigilance for some reason and are easily provoked to attack self-antigens (little markers on each one of our cells that tell our immune system what is part of us and what is a foreign invader). Some theorize that the timing of the vaccination schedule in those predisposed to autoimmune diseases, combined with the introduction of solid foods in infants (CD is among the group of gluten-intolerant diseases) may not only contribute to the recognition of self-antigens as foreign invaders but also cause immune reactions to normal foodstuffs like wheat, dairy, etc.
Reference:
Briania, C., Zaraa, G., Alaedinib, A., Grassivaroa, F., Ruggeroa, S., Toffanina, E., Albergonic, M.P., Lucac, M., Giomettod, B., Ermania, M., De Lazzarie, F., D'Odoricoe, A., Battistinaf, L. (2008). "Neurological complications of celiac disease and autoimmune mechanisms: A prospective study." Journal of Neuroimmunology 195 (1) pp.171-75.