An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies

An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases
- Used Book in Good Condition
A brilliant, groundbreaking report on the dramatic rise of allergic and autoimmune disease, and the controversial therapies scientists are developing to correct these disorders.

From asthma to Crohnâ‚¬s disease, everyone knows someone who suffers from an allergic or autoimmune disorder. And if it appears that the prevalence of these maladies has increased recently, thatâ‚¬s because it hasâ‚¬"to levels never before seen in human history. These days no fewer than one in fiveâ‚¬"and likely moreâ‚¬"Americans suffers from one of these ailments. We seem newly, and bafflingly, vulnerable to immune system malfunction. Why? One possibility is that we have systematically cleaned ourselves to illness; this belief challenges deeply entrenched notions about the value of societal hygiene and the harmful nature of microbes. Yet scientists investigating the rampant immune dysfunction in the developed world have inevitably arrived at this conclusion. To address this global â‚¬Å“epidemic of absence,â‚¬Â they must restore the human ecosystem.

This groundbreaking book explores the promising but controversial â‚¬Å“worm therapyâ‚¬Ââ‚¬"deliberate infection with parasitic wormsâ‚¬"in development to treat autoimmune disease. It explains why farmersâ‚¬ children so rarely get hay fever, why allergy is less prevalent in former Eastern Bloc countries, and how one cancer-causing bacterium may be good for us. It probes the link between autism and a dysfunctional immune system. It investigates the newly apparent fetal origins of allergic diseaseâ‚¬"that a motherâ‚¬s inflammatory response imprints on her unborn child, tipping the scales toward allergy.

An Epidemic of Absence is a brilliant, cutting-edge exploration of the dramatic rise of allergic and autoimmune diseases and the controversial, potentially groundbreaking therapies that scientists are developing to correct these disorders.
Country USA
Brand Scribner Book Company
Manufacturer Scribner
Binding Paperback
ItemPartNumber 9781439199398
ReleaseDate 2013-09-17
UnitCount 1
EANs 9781439199398

Country	USA
Brand	Scribner Book Company
Manufacturer	Scribner
Binding	Paperback
ItemPartNumber	9781439199398
ReleaseDate	2013-09-17
UnitCount	1
EANs	9781439199398

An Epidemic of Absence: A New Way of Understanding Allergies and Autoimmune Diseases