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The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine pp 1–27Cite as

Introduction: The changing microbial environment, Darwinian medicine and the hygiene hypothesis

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Part of the book series: Progress in Inflammation Research ((PIR))

Abstract

Man has undergone rapid cultural and rechnological evolution, with little simultaneous geneticevolution. Thus our physiology is adapted to the microbial exposures that prevailed in the huntergatherer environment, rather than to the clean living conditions of the rich industrialised countries. There is increasing evidence that lack of exposure to organisms that were part of mammalian evolutionary history is leading to disordered regulation of the immune system, and hence to increases in several chronic inflammatory disorders. The concept began with the allergic disorders, but there are now good reasons for extending it to autoimmunity, inflammatory bowel disease, neuroinflammatory disorders, atherosclerosis, depression associated with raised inflammatory cytokines, and some cancers. We discuss these possibilities in the context of Darwinian medicine. This approach enables one to identify some of the organisms that are important for the ‘hygiene’ or ‘old friends’ hypothesis, and to point to their potential exploitation in novel prophylactics and treatments, with applications in several branches of medicine.

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  1. Centre for Infectious Diseases and International Health, Windeyer Institute of Medical Sciences, University College London, 46 Cleveland Street, London, W1T 4JF, UK

    Graham A. W. Rook

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    Graham A. W. Rook

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Rook, G.A.W. (2009). Introduction: The changing microbial environment, Darwinian medicine and the hygiene hypothesis. In: Rook, G.A.W. (eds) The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine. Progress in Inflammation Research. Birkhäuser Basel. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-7643-8903-1_1

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