4 ms·
How does this explain why only some people are affected by allergies. If it's a defensive mechanism, shouldn't we all have it?
by libeclipse 10y ago
How does this explain why only some people are affected by allergies. If it's a defensive mechanism, shouldn't we all have it?
- jernfrost 10y agoFrom my scanning of the article my understanding is that we all have it. The difference is our magnitude of response. One made animals with no allergic reaction whatsoever and predicted that these would suffer other problems over time.
- maxerickson 10y agoAllergy symptoms can just be poor mediation of the defensive response.
- PeterisP 10y agoWe all have this defensive mechanism, however, when it misfires (triggers in a situation where the response isn't necessary) then we call it an allergy.
- libeclipse 10y agoThat's not what the article suggests. It suggests that allergies are not a misfiring but rather a real and proper defense against the allergens.
- danharaj 10y agoThe same reason why we aren't clones of our parents.
- fuzzfactor 10y agoThere is always the possibility that some of our ancestors spent thousands of years so far north that they didn't have significant pollen & pollinating insects, or fruits, vegetables, legumes and the kinds of irritating things most other cultures evolved in harmony with during recent millennia. Always did seem normal to be irritated by irritants, with some people more irritated than others by different things. Seems like each person can only handle a certain amount of total irritants before they experience discomfort. I remember intentionally overcoming an allergy to cats. Researchers have since indicated that the suspected irritant is the cat's saliva rather than just the hair itself. Regardless, it was not unexpected to become more sensitive to less-often-encountered things completely unrelated to animal hair or saliva as a tradeoff after reducing the feline sensitivity.