Jun 24 2025
Understanding how the flu could trigger narcolepsy: toward a blood test to diagnose narcolepsy

“In the last 2 years, the Stanford group and Chinese collaborators have independently found that 2 out of 3 common flu strain can trigger narcolepsy with cataplexy: H1N1, Influenza B but not H3N2. This is a real breakthrough as we now need to find what is common to these 2 strains but different from H3N2, which is entirely feasible. For this, however we need a blood sample from patients who developed narcolepsy during or within the last flu season (November to now). We would help in any way we can to make it easy for you. If the research is successful, we could develop a blood test for narcolepsy and later develop a special flu vaccine that would protect against narcolepsy.”

Please contact mignot@stanford.edu