AUTHOR=Goldwater Paul Nathan 

TITLE=Sudden Infant Death Syndrome, Infection, Prone Sleep Position, and Vagal Neuroimmunology

JOURNAL=Frontiers in Pediatrics

VOLUME=5

YEAR=2017

URL=https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/pediatrics/articles/10.3389/fped.2017.00223

DOI=10.3389/fped.2017.00223

ISSN=2296-2360

ABSTRACT=<p>Recent findings suggest that infection (and sepsis) stand alone as the only plausible mechanism of causation of sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) and accordingly achieves congruence with all clinicopathological and epidemiological findings. This review examines the role of infection in the pathogenesis of SIDS in the context of the major risk factor of prone sleep position. The study explores how sleep position could interact with the immune system and inflammatory response <italic>via</italic> vagal neural connections, which could play key roles in gut and immune homeostasis. A plausible and congruent clinicopathological and epidemiological paradigm is suggested.</p>