Academician Nasonov stated in a comment to aif.ru that the immune system may behave atypically: instead of providing protection to the body, it activates attacks on its organs and tissues. It is as a result of such attacks that autoimmune diseases arise – evidence of inadequate activity (usually hyperactivity) of the human body’s immune system.
What can trigger such a malfunction in the behavior of the immune system?
Severe stress, past infection, hormonal imbalance, disruptions in the intestinal bacterial
composition, injuries, medication.
Evgeny Nasonov noted that signs that may indicate autoimmune diseases are often typical of common ailments, including ordinary ARVI and fatigue.
“Muscle and joint pain, fatigue, depression, tachycardia, shortness of breath – these symptoms are characteristic of other diseases and conditions, including post-viral fatigue,” the scientist shared.
According to the expert, at the early stage an autoimmune disease in a person might not reflect on their well-being at all – it is possible to detect it only through blood analysis, which will show a high concentration of autoantibodies. At the same time, it is known that sometimes people with high levels of such antibodies do not get sick. It is only possible to predict whether an autoimmune
disease will develop or not through genetic studies. The susceptibility to such ailments is hereditary.
“People in the risk groups – those whose close relatives suffer from autoimmune diseases – need to be examined. In such cases, the risk of developing an autoimmune disease (not necessarily the same one) is 3-4 times higher,” concluded the academician.
What diseases are autoimmune?
Crohn’s disease (a chronic inflammatory bowel disease), as well as type 1 diabetes, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, lupus, psoriasis, vasculitis.