Sudden infant death syndrome, virus infections and cytokines

Many epidemiological risk factors identified for sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) suggest a viral aetiology, e.g. exposure to cigarette smoke and winter peak, mild respiratory symptoms. Virus infections and bacterial toxins induce cytokine activity and it has been suggested that uncontrolled inflammatory mediators could be involved in some cases of SIDS. The aim of this review was to assess the evidence for virus infection in SIDS and to examine those findings in relation to individual variations in cytokine responses and various pathophysiological mechanisms proposed for SIDS such as sleep derangement, hypoxia, cardiac arrhythmia, vascular hypotonicity and hypoglycaemia.