摘要
The dramatic increase of allergic and autoimmune diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis （eczema）, allergic rhinitis, inflammatory bowel disease （IBD, including both Crohn＇s disease and ulcerative colitis）, multiple sclerosis, and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus （type Ⅰ diabetes） in the developed countries in the last century is a big puzle. ＂Hygiene Hypothesis＂ was proposed more than two decades ago and it suggested that the increase in these allergic and autoimmune diseases is caused by the aberrant development and response of the immune system due to a reduced exposure to microorganisms along with the improved hygiene. Interestingly, recent studies revealed that these allergic and autoimmune diseases are closely related to the microbes in the gut. For instance, even asthma, an allergic reaction of the lung to inhaled antigens, is closely related to a reduced exposure to foodborne and orofaecal microbes, rather than the amount of allergens in the air or the exposure to airborne microbes. It is known that bacteria in the gut could be 10 times in number of the eukaryotic cells of the body. Therefore, it would be not too surprising that microbes in the gut may have a great impact on these autoimmune and allergic diseases.
The dramatic increase of allergic and autoimmune diseases such as asthma, atopic dermatitis (eczema), allergic rhinitis, inflammatory bowel disease (IBD, including both Crohn’s disease and ulcerative colitis), multiple sclerosis,and insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus (typeⅠdiabetes)
