The prevalence of asthma appears to be inversely related to the incidence of typhoid and tuberculosis: hypothesis to explain the variation in asthma prevalence around the world

被引:21
作者
Jones, PD
Gibson, PG
Henry, RL
机构
[1] Univ Newcastle, Newcastle, NSW 2308, Australia
[2] Univ New S Wales, Kensington, NSW 2033, Australia
关键词
D O I
10.1054/mehy.1999.0997
中图分类号
R-3 [医学研究方法]; R3 [基础医学];
学科分类号
1001 ;
摘要
The prevalence of asthma varies widely throughout the world. We now believe that asthma is due to airway inflammation caused by an imbalance of the T-lymphocytes in the airway. The atopy that drives asthma is due to a predominance of Th-2 lymphocytes in the airway. This paper links the prevalence of asthma inversely to the prevalence of tuberculosis and enteric infection. We will argue that the reason we observe such marked variations in the prevalence of asthma around the world is the fact that in the developing world there is a survival advantage in the fetal immune response to mature from Th-2 to Th-1 lymphocyte predominant. A Th-1 response is required to combat infectious diseases such as typhoid and tuberculosis. Data from the World Health Organization confirms that these two infectious diseases occur very rarely in those communities where the asthma is high. It may be that the clean and infection-free environment of Australia and New Zealand is responsible for the region of Oceania having the dubious honor of having the highest prevalence of asthma in the world. (C) 2000 Harcourt Publishers Ltd.
引用
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页码:40 / 42
页数:3
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