3 ms·
I recall somewhere that due to us getting better at protecting people from pathogens, immune systems get “less practice” at identifying friend from foe, increas
by Panzer04 3y ago
I recall somewhere that due to us getting better at protecting people from pathogens, immune systems get “less practice” at identifying friend from foe, increasing the likelihood of contracting an autoimmune disorder down the line.
I have no idea how accurate that is, but it’s what over heard.
- fnord77 3y agothis is the "hygiene hypothesis" and there is a correlation but nobody has shown causation. it was popular 10 years ago but other models have become more prominent
- miriam_catira 3y agoPersonal anecdote: I have Graves disease, and it didn't flare up until a couple years after I finished immune therapy for a variety of severe allergies. The allergies are much better! But my immune system got bored, or something. Correlation vs causation though... causation makes a lot of sense when living it, but it's not proof. I'm also quite certain my great-grandmother had this same thing, but no would have been able to diagnose her as anything but excessively thin back then. (It severely increases your metabolism and can cause osteoporosis.)
- odyssey7 3y agoIt could be true for some of them, but it's also possible that "autoimmune" is not a very good description of what's happening for some others. Disorders lacking an obvious cause seem to get lumped into the autoimmune category whenever the symptoms are related to inflammation. Before modern medicine, these disorders might have been masked by or passed as a milder form of tuberculosis or something else. It's still possible that there are pathogens involved that haven't been identified.