Contrarily to what is usually thought, epidemiology – when adequately used - is a very powerful tool to investigate causality. Based on epidemiology, influenza-related autoimmunity has been postulated since 1994 to explain the 20th Century CHD Pandemic (1), and in 2009 (ahead of print (2)) to explain the H1N1 pandemic-related lethality. I am glad that this hypothesis is finally receiving the due attention from immunologists and virologists.
Maria Inês Azambuja, MD
School of Medicine Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul,
Porto Alegre, RS. Brazil
Azambuja, M I . Inflammation as the cause of coronary heart disease. Lancet Infectious Diseases, 2010; 10: 142-143
Azambuja, MI. A parsimonious hypothesis to the cause of influenza lethality and its variations in 1918-1919 and 2009. Med Hypotheses 2010; 74(4):681-4.
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