Notebook > Science AFTERSHOCKS: Emelie Olsson developed
narcolepsy after being immunized in 2009 with the Pandemrix H1N1
swine flu vaccine. INTS Kalin/Reuters/Landov  Drowsy drug
Science | Scientists explain why a swine flu vaccine caused
narcolepsy in Europe   A strange thing happened to dozens of
European kids who received a vaccine against the 2009 pandemic
swine flu. They began falling asleep abruptly and unexpectedly
in the middle of the day. Research into the problem revealed
that in rare cases the Pandemrix swine flu shot had triggered
the onset of narcolepsy, an incurable sleep disorder.   In
December, scientists from the Stanford Center for Sleep Sciences
and Medicine in Palo Alto, Calif., announced they had discovered
the likely explanation: “molecular mimicry.” A protein found in
the H1N1 swine flu virus partially resembles hypocretin, a human
hormone responsible for maintaining wakefulness. The hormone is
produced by certain brain neurons. After genetically susceptible
people either contracted sw