Posted by Todd (216.199.5.213) on February 06, 2000 at 16:56:32:
In Reply to: Cause of Clusters? - please read! posted by Carl D on February 06, 2000 at 14:51:29:
As I mentioned to DocGreg when he posted asking about 'traits', etc, I have a congenital (born with) heart murmur. I was supposed to have 'outgrown' it by 10 or 12, as I recall, but never did. Doesn't mean anything in 'normal' life, but it's still there. (I'm 46). On the other hand, no family history of heart disease.
Since we're 'out of the box' here, how about this idea that's been rattling around in my (otherwise empty) head...childhood diseases. You know...measles, mumps, chicken pox, etc. I had them all, as many of us did. So did all 3 of my brothers and I'm the only 'brainstormer' in the group. So, given the high percentage of childhood diseaser's and the low percentage of ch'rs, a direct link seems impossible. But could one or more of these common diseases be one of the 'triggers' that interacts with some other pre-existing condition or susceptibility (stealing shamelessly from garyg here, but since I just admitted it, it's okay, I think.)The reason all kids should be vaccinated for these 'common' diseases is that many of them CAN have severe effects. Most of us get the chicken pox (for example) feel miserable for a while and bounce right back (ahh, for the recupretive powers of a kid again!), but a small percentage of children suffer longterm effects.
So, while we're still so far out of the box some kids have already turned it into a fort, what if measles (for example) + a relatively 'minor' heart defect + some genetic pre-disposition = clusterhead?
When DocGreg posted, Bennie replied that she had a list of 'survey' questions she'd like to have the answers to. I'd be in favor of an expanded survey also, and would be happy to offer my assistance in collecting and compiling the data.
T