Discovery: gluten intolerance is the result of virus infection

Gluten intolerance (Celiac disease) is a dangerous disease. Until recently, people with this disease had no hope of salvation. They had to monitor the diet constantly, excluding any products with gluten. But, according to The Daily Mail, scientists from the University of Chicago are close to creation of a new vaccine. In their opinion, the disease is caused by a virus, but not problems in the genome.

A common and usually harmless reovirus under certain conditions can cause the immune system to reject gluten. However a genetic predisposition may be a cause of this problem. It is known that in the first days of life the immune system still passes the stage of growing up. If at this moment a virus infection happens, there will be a serious trace such as gluten intolerance.

The scientists infected mice with two strains of reovirus. One of the strains changeover the immune system of animals, and they began to react sharply to gluten. As a result, the scientists suggest to vaccinate children from the risk group (with a genetic predisposition).

Source: The Daily Mail.