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The hygiene hypothesis and allergic disorders

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The Hygiene Hypothesis and Darwinian Medicine

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

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Abstract

Allergic diseases are more frequent in the general population than other immune-mediated disorders, such as autoimmune diseases or immunodeficiencies. Therefore, epidemiological studies investigating the hygiene hypothesis in relation to allergic diseases have been performed much more frequently than those investigating the hygiene hypothesis in relation to Crohn’s disease, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis or other diseases related to dysregulation of the immune system. More than one thousand papers have been written on this subject and it is not possible to condense them in a few pages. In this chapter, we summarise the most important pathways followed by the research on the hygiene hypothesis applied to allergic disorders, i.e., the allergy protective role of foodborne and orofaecal infections, starting from Strachan’s initial observations and concluding with the most recent intervention studies.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Pediatric Pneumology and Immunology, Charité University Medicine, Berlin, Germany

    Paolo M. Matricardi & Eckard Hamelmann

  2. Department of Paediatrics, Ruhr-University Bochum, Alexandrinenstraße 5, 44791, Bochum, Germany

    Eckard Hamelmann

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  1. Paolo M. Matricardi
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  2. Eckard Hamelmann
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Editors and Affiliations

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

    Graham A. W. Rook

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Matricardi, P.M., Hamelmann, E. (2009). The hygiene hypothesis and allergic disorders. 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_7

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