A recent story about a man on an airplane that was saved by a celebrity doctor has given rise to the news of a parasite (tick) that is able to make you allergic to red meats. “The "hygiene" hypothesis, now several decades old, suggests that with no parasites to fight, the immune system doesn't know when to quit and ends up targeting allergens.” The symbiosis between parasites and humans is not well understood. Common allergens such as peanuts, bees, pets, and trees are able to be detected within the immune system while parasites are not. This suggests that the body purposely does not hurt the parasites and turns this response off, or parasites are now equipped with ways to alter our immune system. The relationship between a parasite-fighting immune system and the cause of an allergen must come down to similarity within the molecule composition and protein structure. “Using blood serum from parasite-infected people in Ghana, experimental studies finally revealed the first known example of a pollen-like protein present in a parasitic worm that gets targeted by IgE.” This reveals that future technology in immunotherapy (desensitizing the body from allergens) may prove to be beneficial as long as we know the protein causing the allergy.
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