Current research on how the body’s immune system can go wrong is now being studied in research labs across the world. The labs’ discoveries are teaching the medical field the changing way medicine can understand everything from Covid-19 to heart disease. With the advent of our three-year-old pandemic, the question arose: Why did certain individuals of all ages, who appeared relatively healthy at the onset of the plague, succumb rapidly to the viral disorder and not others? Why did only certain seniors with pre-existing disorders show a relatively poor outcome for the virus?
Shilpa Ravella, (an assistant professor of medicine at Columbia University) writes (in her Wall Street Journal article/ October 2022) “Rethinking the Origins of Inflammatory Diseases,” an essay from her new book: “A Silent Fire: The Story of Inflammation, Diet, and Disease.”
She explains, “With Covid-19 and many other infections, the germ itself, or a measured immune reaction to it, triggers most symptoms – like a fever, which alerts the body to the attack, or the coughs and loose stools that expel microscopic infectious particles.” Our doctor continues “But if the immune system doesn’t succeed in managing the germ, it can later resort to a flood of inflammation, where immune cells churn out reams of – small proteins that act as messengers in an attempt to fight the germ.” It is in intensive care units that many people die then from this burst of inflammation rather than from the germ itself.
This autoimmune response from ancient times served itself well when early man did not live in crowded germ-filled conditions with one another. In modern times, however, we find that persisting inflammation, with or without a known trigger, can destroy healthy tissue. The body-damaged cells (phagocytes) rush in and ingest germs or damaged cells. Other types of white blood cells join in. The four signs of inflammation: redness, heat, swelling, and pain are accompanied by more porous blood vessel walls, allowing protein and fluid to leak into tissues causing their swelling. This adds to the pain caused by painful pressure put on nerve endings. Hidden inflammation can be found in heart disease, and even from beneath developing tumors. Dr. Ravella states “It is tied to many other chronic conditions as well, including obesity, diabetes, and neurodegenerative and psychiatric diseases” – not to omit many other illnesses such as many forms of arthritis and lupus.
Dr. Ravella suggests, “Effectively combating hidden inflammation begins with delving deeply into its root causes – Our destinies are largely shaped by lifestyle.”
This subject continues in Part 2 (November 3).
