Sudden Infant Death Syndrome and Ljungan Virus

Overview

Journal Forensic Sci Med Pathol

Specialties Forensic Sciences
Pathology

Date 2009 May 2

PMID 19408134

Citations 4

Authors

Bo Niklasson

Petra Rasten Almqvist

Birger Hornfeldt

William Klitz

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Ljungan virus (LV) has recently been associated with perinatal death in its natural rodent reservoir and also with developmental disorders of reproduction in laboratory mice. A strong epidemiological association has been found between small rodent abundance in Sweden and the incidence of intrauterine fetal death (IUFD) in humans. LV antigen has been detected in half of the IUFD cases tested. The question was therefore raised whether sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) might be associated with rodent abundance, and whether the virus is present in cases of SIDS. Variation in the incidence of SIDS using the Swedish cause-of-death database tracked the changes in the population fluctuations of native rodents. Formalin-fixed tissues from the brain, heart, and lung were investigated from cases of SIDS, SIDS with lymphocytic infiltration of the myocardium (myocarditis) and myocarditis cases using LV specific immunohistochemistry (IHC). Ljungan virus was detected in the brain, heart, and lung tissue from all three of the patient categories investigated using IHC. These studies suggest that LV may play a prominent role in infant death, and that IUFD and SIDS may have common etiological underpinnings.

Citing Articles

The vicious spiral in Sudden Infant Death Syndrome.

Opdal S, Stray-Pedersen A, Eidahl J, Vege A, Ferrante L, Rognum T Front Pediatr. 2025; 13:1487000.

PMID: 40013115 PMC: 11862695. DOI: 10.3389/fped.2025.1487000.

Picornavirus May Be Linked to Parkinson's Disease through Viral Antigen in Dopamine-Containing Neurons of Substantia Nigra.

Niklasson B, Lindquist L, Klitz W, Fredrikson S, Morgell R, Mohammadi R Microorganisms. 2022; 10(3).

PMID: 35336174 PMC: 8953350. DOI: 10.3390/microorganisms10030599.

Identification of Novel Rosavirus Species That Infects Diverse Rodent Species and Causes Multisystemic Dissemination in Mouse Model.

Lau S, Woo P, Li K, Zhang H, Fan R, Zhang A PLoS Pathog. 2016; 12(10):e1005911.

PMID: 27737017 PMC: 5063349. DOI: 10.1371/journal.ppat.1005911.

No Ljungan virus RNA in stool samples from the Norwegian environmental triggers of type 1 diabetes (MIDIA) cohort study.

Tapia G, Cinek O, Rasmussen T, Grinde B, Ronningen K Diabetes Care. 2010; 33(5):1069-71.

PMID: 20185738 PMC: 2858177. DOI: 10.2337/dc09-1951.

A commentary on the possible association of Ljungan virus and SIDS and issues in SIDS research.

Krous H, Langlois N Forensic Sci Med Pathol. 2009; 5(4):318-20.

PMID: 19757217 DOI: 10.1007/s12024-009-9107-7.

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