4 ms·
> I'd like to see research done on mice to reduce the number of viruses and bacteria they are exposed to - for example by sterilizing all air, water, and food f
by pyrale 3y ago
> I'd like to see research done on mice to reduce the number of viruses and bacteria they are exposed to - for example by sterilizing all air, water, and food for many generations. Then see which ailments go away.
If something is common in the environment and would not cause harm to people if not for disproportionate response from the immune system, I would say that the issue is the immune system, not the common element.
- londons_explore 3y agoRemember that the population of humans a million years ago used to be ~20,000. It is now 7 billion. Some diseases have big and obvious effects, while others are undetectable/unknown. Assume that diseases mutate a fixed amount per human they infect. All 7 billion of those people are one 'pool' for disease spread - as evidenced by covid. That means that the rate your immune system 'sees' entirely novel diseases - not only novel to you, but also novel to all your ancestors - is 350,000x higher than it used to be. The true figure is probably lower, because many diseases infect multiple species. But still, there is a strong argument that we are asking our immune system to do something far outside what it has evolved to handle.
- pyrale 3y ago> Some diseases have big and obvious effects, while others are undetectable/unknown. A disease is a pathological process, something that goes wrong. If someone lives their life without a symptom, they are not diseased. Your immune system doesn't see "novel diseases", it encounters molecules it doesn't know. These molecules may be pathogenic (i.e. they cause a disease), or they may be harmless. Your immune system reacting disproportionately to harmless stuff, is what's called autoimmune disease.
- mrcode007 3y agoThe part about immune system reacting to harmless stuff is not true. Autoimmune diseases are diseases in which a body responds to itself. Not to external factors. Think of it as threat classification errors
- pyrale 3y agoOk. I wasn't sure there was a clear classification of what's external and what's "the body". My point was about making a distinction between disease and the thing being responded to.
- zanfr 3y agowe will have to sterilize the air as evidenced since 2020