How Measles Leave the Body Prone to Future Infections, Collins (blog post) 2019

[Foxglove]

https://directorsblog.nih.gov/2019/11/12/how-measles-leaves-the-body-prone-to-future-infections/

In a new study in the journal Science, a research team, partly funded by NIH, found that the measles virus not only can make children deathly ill, it can cause their immune systems to forget how to ward off other common infections [1].

The virus does this by wiping out up to nearly three-quarters of the protective antibodies that a child’s body has formed in response to past microbial invaders and vaccinations.

...

There had been hints that the measles virus might somehow suppress a person’s immune system. Epidemiological evidence also had suggested that measles infections might lead to increased susceptibility to infection for years afterwards [2].

Scientists had even suspected this might be explained by a kind of immune amnesia. The trouble was that there wasn’t any direct proof that such a phenomenon actually existed.

...

[1] Measles virus infection diminishes preexisting antibodies that offer protection from other pathogens. Mina MJ, Kula T, Leng Y, Li M, de Vries RD, Knip M, Siljander H, Rewers M, Choy DF, Wilson MS, Larman HB, Nelson AN, Griffin DE, de Swart RL, Elledge SJ. et al. Science. 2019 Nov 1; 366 (6465): 599-606.

[2] Long-term measles-induced immunomodulation increases overall childhood infectious disease mortality. Mina MJ, Metcalf CJE, De Swart RL, Osterhaus ADME, Grenfell BT. Science. 2015 May 8; 348(6235).

[3] Viral immunology. Comprehensive serological profiling of human populations using a synthetic human virome. Xu GJ, Kula T, Xu Q, Li MZ, Vernon SD, Ndung’u T, Ruxrungtham K, Sanchez J, Brander C, Chung RT, O’Connor KC, Walker B, Larman HB, Elledge SJ. Science. 2015 Jun 5;348(6239):aaa0698.

 

[Foxglove]

Might there be other viruses that can do this?

And might this be relevant in ME, where they're finding some don't have evidence of infections?

 

[Wolfcub]

I had measles when I was about 5. I can't remember the exact sequence of events, so can't remember if the measles came first, or somehow in the middle, but I caught all the childhood illnesses; Mumps, chicken pox, German measles.
When I was an older child/teenager I did catch colds quite frequently, but I lived among lots of people in a built up area, and school was always full of people with colds.

But as I grew older I had a very strong immune system, with the exception of a period of about a year after receiving the tetanus full course (3 months of vaccinations.) The older I got, the better it seemed to be, and I only caught cold about once every 4 or sometimes 5 years.

Until that bug I caught early 2018 (I have no idea what it was)which refused to go away and led to this...

 

[Rufous McKinney]

Kindergarten was: a blurr. I think I was hardly ever there, instead home with this endless list of infirmities.

 

[Wolfcub]

I am sorry @Rufous McKinney that you have had this horrible thing all of your life....

 

[Rufous McKinney]

that you have had this horrible thing all of your life

Ah, your so kind. I haven't had "this per se" all this time...but just some compromised version for QUITE a long time. II had intense food allergies at 1 which set the stage for something or another.

But feel so very lucky to have managed to survive to this point....and I have many wonderful blessings.

But I will more carefully inspect the terms and conditions of any future Returns.

And that famous line in a Simon and Garfunkle song- "and to this day, I swear it was not a common cold" ..

Or some such version.

 

[andyguitar]

It's interesting research @Foxglove and has made some of the national newspapers in the UK. I wonder if there is an upside to the findings. Would it make people less likely to get autoimmune problems later in life?

 

[Gemini]

And might this be relevant in ME, where they're finding some don't have evidence of infections?

Thanks for posting this important study @Foxglove.

Excellent question. It's very relevant to ME.

The powerful new tool VirScan that Elledge & Harvard colleagues invented was used in this measles study as well as in recent AFM and dengue studies.

VirScan detects past (resolved or unresolved) or ongoing infection. The technology can capture virtually all host generated antibodies.

Diseases that are suspected to have been caused by infection that current tests are unable to detect are candidates for its use, including ME/CFS as cited by its inventors.

The test requires a drop of blood, costs about $25 US, and 100 samples can be turned around in 2-3 days according to some reports.

@Hip has reached out to the AFM researchers, and NIH's Avi Nath who used it for his dengue study indicated he would consider it for ME/CFS.

@Janet Dafoe (Rose49) would the Harvard ME/CFS collaborators be interested?

 

[Foxglove]

Diseases that are suspected to have been caused by infection that current tests are unable to detect are candidates for its use, including ME/CFS as cited by its inventors.

That's super exciting.

@Hip has reached out to the AFM researchers, and NIH's Avi Nath who used it for his dengue study indicated he would consider it for ME/CFS.

Wow that's neat.

I've been interested in dengue fever for some time because of the compensated shock aspect. While we seem to have less severe or better compensated shock, it seems to have some similarities to ME, to me.

The other interesting thing is that from the stories here, it sounds like lack of infections and many infections (and change from one state to the other) could potentially both/all be explained.

 

[Foxglove]

Would it make people less likely to get autoimmune problems later in life?

That's an interesting question. I don't know a lot about the theories of why autoimmune diseases occur. There's some amount of talk about infections being related (and certainly in some cases they correlate to onset, like with us), but I am not sure anything is proven definitively.

I think in cases where they have treatments and don't dispute the "reality" of the disease, there may be less of a push to find the base cause (and more focus on new and/or better treatments), but I could be wrong.