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The Evolution Of Allergies On Homo Sapiens

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Sarah Husted
Anth 423

The evolution of allergies in Homo sapiens

As of 2008, approximately 25% of people in the developed world suffer from allergic disorders (Galli, Tsai, Piliponsky, 2008). These disorders can be mild, but they can also be severe. Hay fever, asthma, eczema, and anaphylaxis are a few examples of what can be categorized as allergic disorders. The morbidity rates among school aged children in the industrialized world is even higher than in the general population with 40-50% of children susceptible to one or more type of allergy (Pawankar et al., 2011). The pervasiveness of allergies worldwide has risen in the developed world for over 50 years. Many people take medication for their allergies but it can often take years to find a completely effective regime, if ever. For some, allergic disorders can severely disrupt everyday life. With so many suffering from allergies it is no surprise that this area of health has been thoroughly studied. Interestingly enough though, while we do know what happens in the human body during an allergy attack there is still debate as to why we as humans evolved allergic disorders in the first place.

On a biological level, when an allergen enters your system it triggers a Type 2 immune response (Pulendran, Artis, 2012). Th2 cells and IgE antibodies control this type of immune response as opposed to the Th1 and IgM, IgA and IgG used a Type 1 immune response (Palm, Rosenstein, Medzhitov, 2012). Type 2 immune response is

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