What are Asthma and Allergies Attributed to?
There are many opinions regarding the basic cause of asthma and allergies. HealthMaker Alkis Togias, MD, Asthma and Inflammation Section Chief at the NIAID discusses the leading theory and how it causes the immune system may go awry.
Transcript
Well, there are many theories. There are many opinions on this. But most people today believe that it
has to do with a change in the environment that has taken away
from us some of the stimuli that actually morph our immune system into accepting an allergen, which is really
not an invader of our body but it is an innocuous substance.
Why are we attacking this substance today? Most likely because our immune system doesn't
know how to control itself. And that may be part of the problem. Why is that happening?
Perhaps, as I said, because of the loss of external stimuli, which may lie into the family of microbes
and those types of exposures that may have taken away that ability of our immune system
allergies
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