Apodemus in the media

ProMED-mail, May 14, 2009:
"... The proposal rests on 3 distinct lines of evidence: the new finding of Ljungan virus (LV) in brain, heart, and lung tissue in cases of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS), the observation that LV causes a related disease in various species of animals, and the association between the incidence of SIDS and the abundance of an animal reservoir of LV..."

Medical News Today, May 11, 2009:
Ljungan virus, transmitted from animals to humans, has been found in 11 of 12 cases of Sudden Infant Death Syndrome or SIDS. Investigators from Sweden and the USA present these findings in the scientific journal Forensic Science in Medicine and Pathology. Animals infected with the virus suffer from a similar disease. Population cycles of wild rodents carrying Ljungan virus correlate with the frequency of SIDS cases. /…/ [Link to the article]

SR P4 Västernorrland (Swedish radio), May 8, 2009:
"The so called Ljungan virus, found amongst others in bank voles in the Ljungan valley, is suspected to cause sudden infant death syndrome...."

Sveriges Television (Swedish public service), February 9, 2009:
“… a recently discovered virus explains sudden infant death syndrome. // Scientists from Sweden and USA have found a novel virus that they believe to explain not only fetal deaths and infants dying during their first year of life, but also severe malformations …. [Petra Råsten Almqvist, chief medical officer at National Board of Forensic Medicine , Stockholm:] 'Ljungan virus is particular interesting because of the similarities found in infected animals and sudden infant death syndrome and fetal death'/…/"

TT, February 4, 2009:
"Ljungan virus, which is carried by voles, cannot only be connected to diabetes among children and foetal death in humans but now also to malformed fetuses. According to a study from Swedish research company Apodemus and Karolinska institutet..." *

TV4 News (Swedish), November, 7 2008:
"Up to 50 per cent of all cases of stillborn children remain unexplained. But now an association between stillbirth and the so called Ljungan virus…" *

Sveriges Television (Swedish public service), November 6, 2008:
"The hypothesis that Ljungan virus causes foetal death in humans now supported by a new doctoral thesis from Karolinska Institutet. The thesis investigated 15 cases of unexplained foetal death during the end of pregnancy and established that the Ljungan virus was involved in ten cases…" *

Dagens Medicin (Swedish medical newspaper), November 6 2008:
"The Ljungan virus is believed to cause foetal death in humans. A new Swedish research thesis increases suspicion of a connection…" *

TT, November 6 2008:
"A virus present in voles is suspected to cause foetal death in humans. The PhD student and midwife Annika Samsioe has, in her doctoral thesis at Karolinska institutet…" *

The Washington Post, April 28, 2007:
"One of the most widely used animal models for Type 1 diabetes has been found to carry a virus that has been shown to produce diabetes in other rodents, a finding that offers the possibility of new treatments for the widespread disorder..." [Link to the article]

The Los Angeles Times, April 28, 2007:
"The finding suggests antiviral drugs could help fight the disorder. The BioBreeding, or BB, rat naturally develops diabetes at about 2 months of age, and researchers have attributed the disease to genetics. The new findings suggest that there is indeed a genetic susceptibility but that the precipitating event is a viral infection..." [Link to the article]

The Los Angeles Times, April 21, 2007:
"Infections by a recently discovered virus may be responsible for a significant fraction of stillbirths, Swedish and American researchers reported Thursday in the journal Birth Defects Research. The Ljungan virus is named after the Swedish river valley where virologist Bo Niklasson of Uppsala University discovered it in voles in 1999..." [Link to the article]

Biotech Sweden, no. 8 2006 (September 12):

"The research company Apodemus has a different explanation for the origin of diabetes. They are working under the hypothesis that a virus originally found in wild voles causes the disease. They have now shown that previously healthy mice that are infected with the virus develop diabetes.

- If we are right, this is one of the greatest medical discoveries of all time, says the company’s research director Bo Niklasson." *

TT, August 8, 2006:
”Pregnant mice infected with the Ljungan virus and simultaneously exposed to stress give birth to malformed and stillborn babies. Now scientists examine whether malformed fetus and foetal deaths before birth also among human beings could be caused by mothers carrying the virus. If the virus causes foetal disease in humans, then the theory that diabetes leads to foetal disease and deaths must be reconsidered, according to research director Professor Bo Niklasson. (…) A Swedish-American research team presents these results of a study in the magazine Birth Defect Research.*

Upsala Nya Tidning, August 4, 2006:
”Swedish scientists have found that the Ljungan virus, suspected to be the cause of juvenile diabetes, also results in diabetes and heart diseases among wild voles and lemmings. Behind the new findings there is a research team led by professor in virology Bo Niklasson, and scientists at the University of Umeå. The cause of mass death among rodents in the north has long been a mystery. Now scientists believe that the Ljungan virus is a contributing cause.” *

Västmanlands Nyheter, August 3, 2006:
”The research company Apodemus has made a surprising discovery and found that rodents carrying the Ljungan virus get diabetes and heart disease, not only in laboratories but also in nature. The discovery could explain why the number of rodents sometimes decreases rapidly and strengthens the hypothesis that the Ljungan virus, found in both Europe and the US, could infect a human being and cause diabetes and other chronic diseases.” *

TT, July 31, 2006:
”Swedish scientists have found that the Ljungan virus, suspected to be the cause of juvenile diabetes, also results in diabetes and heart diseases among wild voles and lemmings. The scientists believe that the virus contributes to the rapid decrease of rodents after a vole and lemming year. Behind the new findings there is a research team led by professor in virology Bo Niklasson. The team has earlier shown in laboratory tests that voles and lemmings infected with the Ljungan virus and simultaneously exposed to stress are likely to develop diabetes and myocarditis.” *

Läkartidningen, no. 32-33 2006 VOLUME 103:
“Mice infected with a virus, existing among bank voles, gave birth to offsprings that later developed diabetes. The study was published in the magazine Diabetologia.” *

Bärgslagsbladet, July 19, 2006:
“A certain virus carried by voles could cause diabetes among humans. That is what scientist Bo Niklasson thinks after having carried out a study on mice. The virus is called the Ljungan virus, since it was discovered among bank voles along the banks of Ljungan river, and was isolated by Niklasson in 1999. In their experiments the research team around Niklasson has implanted the virus in the fetus of pregnant experimental mice. The fetus showed symptoms of obesity and type 2 diabetes. The same research team has earlier discovered that a good vole year is the cause of increasing juvenile diabetes. Approximately two years after a peak vole year the cases of juvenile diabetes increase.” *

Sundsvalls Tidning, July 14, 2006:
“The virus, found earlier among the voles of Ljungan river, cause diabetes. 'The result is amazing, since the voles normally carry various viruses without falling ill themselves. We believe that the Ljungan virus has a connection to humans developing diabetes', says professor Bo Niklasson. The Ljungan virus was found in 1999 among the voles in Matfors. It was Bo Niklasson, professor in virology at the University of Uppsala and research director at Apodemus, who together with his team of scientists managed to isolate the virus. So far they have found three different variants of the virus in Sweden. But today it is known that the virus exists in other places as well.” *

tu.no (Tekniske Ukeblad), July 5, 2006:
“Swedish scientists have discovered a connection between a virus in voles and diabetes found in small children. The virologist Bo Niklasson at the University of Uppsala has for several years studied the connection between the Ljungan virus, frequently found in voles, and diabetes among children. A new study, due to be published in the next issue of the scientific magazine Diabetologica, indicates that the hypothesis is true.” *

Svenska Dagbladet, 5 july 2006:
In today’s issue of the journal Diabetologia, Bo Niklasson’s research group publishes a report that (…) is based on experiments with pregnant laboratory mice and their fetuses that are infected with the Ljungan virus. The result was that the male offspring developed obesity and subsequently typical symptoms of type 2 diabetes later in life, provided that they were exposed to stress. The earlier in life that they came into contact with the Ljungan virus, the greater the risk of developing illness.
- In my opinion, this means that the Ljungan virus could really be connected to diabetes. Our hypothesis is that the virus can start a process that leads to obesity and diabetes in humans as well, says Bo Niklasson." *

Swedish Diabetological Network, October 25 2005:
"The tiny bank vole may play a major role in the development of type 1 diabetes. This according to virologist Bo Niklasson, who described his research and the hypothesis about the Ljungan virus as etiological agent causing diabetes. (...) the natural carrier of Ljungan virus, the bank vole, develops both diabetes and myocarditis in nature during stressful years with high population density. In lab studies it has been shown that Ljungan virus causes diabetes, similar to type 1 as well as type 2, in bank voles and mice. (...) Stress was a prerequisite for the development of diabetes." *

TT, 24 June 2004:
"The National Institute of Health, USA has granted Swedish scientists SEK 2 million to investigate the association between small rodents and type1 diabetes. The focus of the US interest is the unique Swedish surveillance databases, in this case the Swedish National Board of Health and Welfare patient data base and the Swedish Environmental Protection Agency monitoring programme for small rodents. (...)
- We will compare data from these data bases, says virologist Bo Niklasson." *

Science Magazine vol. 300, 9 May 2003:
"Infection with specific strains of virus and autoimmunity are each implicated in the destruction of insulin-producing β cells of the pancreas that leads, eventually, to the development of type 1 diabetes. In a study of wild bank voles, Niklasson et al. found evidence for a direct association between type 1 diabetes and infection by a novel picorna virus."

TT, 23 April 2003
“The scientists’ theory is that the Ljungan virus sometimes initiates a process in voles leading to diabetes by inducing self-produced antibodies that attack the beta cells in the pancreas and eventually destroy the pancreas’ ability to produce insulin. The same thing happens in children that get diabetes. (…) The number of voles varies with very high numbers every third year.
– It is interesting that the numbers of children getting diabetes also increase in a similar way. Perhaps the virus is spread, especially when there are many voles, indirectly to humans through other species or environmental factors, says Bo Niklasson. (...) The two reports were published in the magazine International Journal and Diabetes Research.” *

Netdoktor.se, 22 April 2003
“That children may get diabetes through a virus infection is a hypothesis based on the results by an international group of scientists proving that wild voles develop type 1 diabetes. The reports, which were published in the magazine International Journal and Diabetes Research, show that voles carry the so-called Ljungan virus and that this virus destroys the insulin-producing beta cells in the pancreas of the voles developing diabetes. (…) The interesting part is that the number of children with diabetes varies in a similar way.” *

Svenska Dagbladet, 22 April 2003
"An international group of scientists has for the first time been able to establish that a wild animal – the bank vole – develops diabetes. The scientists are also presenting evidence that the disease can be linked to a virus called the Ljungan virus circulating among voles. It has not yet been shown if the virus can be transferred from animals to humans, but the scientists have discovered that there is an increased number of cases with juvenile diabetes following years with high vole numbers. (…) The scientists’ theory is that the Ljungan virus among voles under some special condition may initiate the long process resulting in diabetes.” *

* Translation by Apodemus AB