<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

Current opinion on this is far from unanimous.

Best model is probably "juvenile onset" (type I) diabetes where researchers
are pretty sure that you need two things:

1--the genetic predisposition (& the set of genes is thought to be the same
set of genes that put you at risk for CD and several other "autoimmune"
conditions)

2--an environmental trigger.  In DM type I it's probably an adenovirus.
Several studies suggest that in CD it's an adenovirus as well but this is
not as clearly worked out.

CD presenting in infancy or childhood tends to be a fulminant disease.
Later on more insidious.

My belief, generally supported by evidence, is that you're born with the
RISK of developing CD but that you aren't really gluten intolerant until you
experience the trigger that sets off the cascade of events which results in
the autoimmunity.


David A. Nelsen, Jr., MD, MS
Department of Family & Community Medicine
UAMS

 -----Original Message-----

FOr those of you who subscribe to medscape... there was a statement about
testing asymptomatic children to see if they will develop celiac.  I was
always under the understanding that you were born with celiac, and that
symptoms were present as soon as gluten was introduced.  If they were not
caught at this juncture, my understanding also was that it could then lay
dormant for many years.  Have I been misinformed?