Professor Yehuda Shoenfeld is the founder and head of the Zabludowicz Center for Autoimmune Diseases at the Sheba Medical Center, which is affiliated to the Sackler Faculty of Medicine at Tel-Aviv University, Israel. He is also the Incumbent of the Laura Schwarz-Kipp Chair for Research of Autoimmune Diseases at Tel-Aviv University. His clinical and scientific works focus on autoimmune and rheumatic diseases, and he has been the recipient of multiple awards, including a Life Contribution Prize in Internal Medicine in Israel, 2012.
In recent years, Professor Shoenfeld noted that four conditions: siliconosis, Gulf War syndrome (GWS), macrophagicmyofasciitis syndrome (MMF) and post-vaccination phenomena were linked with previous exposure to an adjuvant, and that the patients also presented with similar clinical symptoms. In 2011, this led Professor Shoenfeld to suggest these comparable conditions should be grouped under a common syndrome entitled ‘ASIA’, for ‘Autoimmune (Autoinflammatory) Syndrome Induced by Adjuvants’.
In this Q&A we talk to Professor Shoenfeld about ASIA, and discuss his recommendations regarding further research in the field.
What is ASIA?
ASIA is a new syndrome, which refers to autoimmune syndromes induced by adjuvants. It includes several conditions that are not fully characterized as autoimmune diseases like systemic lupus, rheumatoid arthritis or scleroderma, but that are induced by chronic stimulation of the immune system by substances which may react as adjuvants. This chronic stimulation leads to the emergence of these new signs and symptoms, which include fatigue, arthritis, myalgia, and neurological manifestations. ...
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