COULD MYOCARDITIS, INSULIN-DEPENDENT DIABETES-MELLITUS, AND GUILLAIN-BARRE-SYNDROME BE CAUSED BY ONE OR MORE INFECTIOUS AGENTS CARRIED BY RODENTS

The numbers of small rodents in northern Sweden fluctuate heavily, pea king every 3 or 4 years. We found that the incidence of Guillain-Barre syndrome and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, as well as the numb er of deaths caused by myocarditis, followed the fluctuations in numbe rs of bank voles, although with different time lags. An environmental factor, such as an infectious agent, has been suggested for all three diseases. We hypothesize that Guillain-Barre syndrome, myocarditis, an d insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus in humans in Sweden are caused b y one or more infectious agents carried by small rodents. Also, a grou p of novel picornaviruses recently isolated from these small rodents i s being investigated as the possible etiologic agent(s).