dr. Lisa Silvani Autoimmune diseases are now increasingly highlighted because of the high numbers and low cure rates. It can even be said that autoimmune diseases suffer for life. In 2010, the number of autoimmune diseases in Indonesia was as large..
This figure is increasing in 2018 where this year the number of autoimmune sufferers is as large.
It’s not just numbers that are of concern to the government and many people in autoimmune diseases. But also because the treatment is very long it can even be said to be a lifetime and the drugs used to treat autoimmune diseases are classified as expensive. Both of these cause burdens for both the patient and his family.
But why autoimmune diseases are increasing in proportion?
Is there a change in the environment that triggers it?
Autoimmune disease is closely related to genetic or hereditary factors. This genetic factor is generally related to the body’s immune system response to infections that are ultimately passed down from generation to generation. It aims to provide higher immunity in offspring. However, this also ultimately increases an autoimmune risk to a person. Fortunately, genetic factors play only about 30%. While the other 70% is played by food, environmental and infection factors that occur in the body.
The human environment is increasingly changing as the era of industrialization arrives. Air pollution, noise and even pollution in water and kian food are widespread. Pollution as if it were our daily life. However, it turns out that pollution does not only have a bad effect on the lungs – the lungs or hearing. Pollution also stores danger to the body’s immune system which if the levels are intolerable by the body can trigger autoimmune diseases. This is caused because in the pollution there is also a heavy metal content that will reduce antioxidants in the body and disrupt the body’s detoxification system. While both things are closely related to the balance of the body’s immune system. Some heavy metals or chemicals related to autoimmune diseases are BPA or Bisphenol A and TCE or TriChloroEthylene.
Many autoimmune disorders begin with mild or moderate infections. In a normal immune system, the body’s immune cells will work to kill bacteria, viruses and fungi that cause infections and other body systems, trying to remove the remaining bacteria, viruses and fungi that come out of the body safely. But in a disrupted immune system, the rest of the bacteria are considered foreign matter so the immune system works again and again because it assumes that the body is still in attack by the virus and bacteria. This process eventually became the cave of the immune system and settled into an autoimmune disease. Infections that often trigger autoimmune diseases include Streptococcal infections, Epstein Barr Virus and & Bacteriodes fragilis, a bacterium that exists in the human digestive tract.
Food is indeed very influential on health. Almost all health problems are related to diet and the type of food we consume a day – days. Some food contents such as gluten can damage the intestinal wall order so that in the long run it can trigger autoimmune events.
These are some things that can trigger autoimmune diseases in a person’s body. Of course there are many other things that can trigger autoimmunity disorders that also depend on each person’s genetic factors. But that is another story.
Do you have someone with autoimmune diseases too?
