What is your favorite food?

The answers may vary, however the overwhelming response will mostly likely involve
carbs, or some sort of flour involved to make the food. Pizza, hamburgers, pasta, cake, you get
the point. Now imagine you can’t eat these foods. In fact, if you consume said food your body literally attacks itself. While this may seem like the worst nightmare for some, it is a reality for others. Celiac disease is an autoimmune disease that primarily affects the small intestine, the disease is a reaction that is caused by a gluten. Gluten is various proteins found in wheat, barley and rye. Brandon Zimmerman, a sophomore at Capital High School has struggled with Celiac disease for a little over one year now. Celiac disease and the development of, usually appears around the six months of age to two years old. However the disease can develop and appear
at any time. Brandon was officially diagnosed at age 13 although did not experience some of the common symptoms. Brandon wasn’t aware that gluten could harm ones body. While this might
seem funny to some, celiac disease affects an average of one in 100 Americans, out of those living with the disease, 97% are undiagnosed. ImmusanT, a biotechnology company founded in 2010, focuses on developing new vaccines in order to help those living with autoimmune diseases and hoping to find cures within these vaccines. They have recently announced their securement in $40 million to fund Nexvax2 into phase 2 of clinical trials. Nexvax2 is a new vaccine designed to help stimulate immune tolerance in patients with celiac disease. This new vaccine is tended to protect those with celiac against unintentional gluten exposure. While this new vaccine is still in clinical trials, patients with celiac disease are hopeful for this new possible outcome. Brandon says “I have heard about the new vaccine, and I’m super excited to meet with my
doctor to discuss it.” If the vaccine is successful and able to be put to use, Brandon said he would be very interested in partaking “Of course! Not eating Costco pizza is the worst.”
Well said Brandon, well said.