Health Information

Autoimmune Diseases: When the Immune System Confusion - Feeling tired for no reason , sudden blurred vision or tingling fingers may be a symptom of a moment that is not harmful , but it can also be an early sign of a serious disease that is difficult to cure , which is an autoimmune disease .
Is an autoimmune disease ?

Autoimmune diseases are diseases that are not caused by bacteria but by viruses or errors in your immune system . Instead of attacking harmful bacteria , the immune system actually attacks the tissues of your body blindly , to " backfire " . This is because the system can not distinguish foreign cells by the body's own cells . The result is a severe inflammatory reaction . Almost any organ or tissue can be damaged , from nerves , brain , eyes , heart , joints , until the muscles throughout the body . Crohn's disease , lupus , rheumatoid arthritis ( arthritis ) , multiple sclerosis ( MS ) and type 1 diabetes are examples of the most well-known autoimmune diseases .
Why the immune system attacks the body's own cells ?

The immune system works in two steps , ie distinguish foreign cells by the body's own cells and take action against foreign cells . If the first step goes wrong , then there are two possibilities . First , the immune system is suppressed and the body no longer recognize foreign pathogens . This is the case where the AIDS weakens the immune system . Second , the immune system is not muted so attacking the body's own cells and foreign cells without exception . This is the case in autoimmune diseases . Your immune system to be completely out of control .

Although he has done a lot of intensive research , the experts have not managed to find out the exact cause of autoimmune disease . However , note that there are a number of risk factors that play a role . In addition to genetic predisposition , infections and environmental factors also play an important role as triggers of autoimmune diseases .

    Genetic . Autoimmune diseases tend to be inherited in families . In a study of twins is known that if one identical twin suffers from an autoimmune disease , twin probability 30-50 percent also suffer from the same disease . But not 100 percent , which means that the gene is not solely responsible for the onset of disease . Often , patients can compensate for genetic defects and her normal life without autoimmune disease .

    Infection . Fragile immune system which can be damaged by trigger factors such as viral infections . This may occur due to genetic weakness causes the immune system can not cope with certain viruses . They have difficulty distinguishing viral proteins with the protein body and attack them , as soldiers who can not distinguish between enemy forces and the people that fired them . Epstein - Barr virus is suspected to be a trigger multiple sclerosis . Another trigger is the Coxsackie virus , which is also thought to trigger type 1 diabetes .

    Environment and food . Compared to our ancestors , we are far more exposed to different chemicals that overwhelm the immune system . When the immune cells in the intestines of any sort of substances that we eat is dangerous and is not , the possibility of error increases . Autoimmune diseases can occur through reaction to a substance that makes confusion , whether hazardous or not . Rotavirus is very similar to molecules specific photoreceptors in the eye . This confusion is thought to cause uveitis , which in turn can damage eyesight .