but maybe it will lead to a better understanding of autoimmune disease.

This is what I think:
The lungs are a huge window for allergic responses. This was learned quickly when penicillin was discovered. Back then the medical community tried to use penicillin by inhalation to treat pneumonia. The patients went into anaphylaxsis rapidly and in high numbers.

A study was done in Denmark with large numbers of children with genetic markers for type I diabetes. 1/2 were allowed to drink cows' milk, and 1/2 were not. The children who were not exposed to cows' milk did not develop diabetes in the same ratios as those that did. The culprit is thought to be bovine insulin fragments in the milk, that trigger antibodies to the pancreas islet cells.

What may be happening to the pig workers, may be similar. They are inhaling mist size droplets containing myelin from the nerves in the brains. That goes thru the lungs, and stimulates antibodies, which then attack the myelin in the peripheral nervous system in the workers. It is a thought. And sheds some light on autoimmune reactions.

There are channels in the GI tract called Zonulin channels, and these allow peptides to cross into the blood if they are open. Alot of research is being done on these for Celiac patients, and also on the blood brain barrier where Zonulin exists. We used to call this "leaky gut". Now there is proof of it.