UM study links Libby asbestos, immune disease risks

University of Montana researchers have documented a link between asbestos and the red flags for autoimmune diseases that the human body sends out, a study of interest to Libby residents and people with such diseases as lupus or rheumatoid arthritis.

The study looked at blood samples from 50 residents of Libby – a town contaminated by decades of vermiculite mining and asbestos – and compared them to samples from a control group, matched by age and sex, of 50 people living in Missoula.

What the study found, said UM researcher Jean Pfau, is that the Libby residents were much more likely to have certain proteins in their blood – autoantibodies known as antinuclear antibodies, or ANAs – that the body mistakenly sends out and which attack tissues, organs and cells.

By MEA ANDREWS of the Missoulian

Full Story: http://missoulian.com/articles/2005/01/31/news/local/news02.txt