0:00
GRAHAM ROOK: Hello,
my name is Graham Rook
from University College, London.
Today I'm going to
talk about evolution,
human microbe interactions,
and the epidemic
of inflammation-related disorders.
The high income countries are facing
massive increases in a whole range
0:14
of chronic inflammatory disorders,
and there's increasing evidence
that this is at least partly
due to changes in our contact
with microorganisms.
This notion was applied to
allergies more than 25 years ago,
and was at that time called
"the hygiene hypothesis".
But in this talk, I
hope to demonstrate
that our microbial contacts
are indeed important,
but that hygiene is not an important
cause of our current problems.
What we are seeing is an effect
of other major lifestyle changes.
In the high income
countries, the immune system
0:46
is attacking all kinds of
things it should not attack.
For instance, it's attacking the
gut contents and the microbiota,
the organisms that live in our
guts. And this is contributing
to inflammatory bowel
disease like Crohn's
disease and ulcerative colitis.
Similarly, the immune
system is attacking itself,
attacking our own bodies, and
this leads to autoimmune diseases
like multiple sclerosis
and Type 1 diabetes.
Our immune systems are also
attacking harmless molecules
in air or food, and this gives
rise to allergic disorders
like asthma and eczema.
And finally, the immune system
is frequently maintaining
inappropriate inflammation.
Rather than simply turning
on inflammation when there's
some requirement for it,
it leaves it on permanently.
And permanent background
inflammation predisposes us
to psychiatric disorders,
metabolic disorders,
and cardiovascular disease.
Now all of these things are
happening, particularly,
in high income countries more
than low income countries,
in urban rather than
rural communities,
and in people of low
socioeconomic status
more than those of high
socioeconomic status.
These increases are
much too rapid to have
