Why do we get Allergies when their only purpose is to cause runny noses, itchy eyes, and develop into more severe conditions such as asthma.

Allergies = Too Much Love

An allergic reaction occurs when our immune system overreacts to a foreign substance that normally is not harmful. Think of allergies as our bodies smothering us with too much love. Our bodies constantly release low levels of IgE antibodies to rapidly respond to a worm infection. When the IgE antibodies bind to seasonal allergens instead of an infectious worm we develop an allergic reaction.

Why cant our body tell the difference

Now the difficult concept to understand is that when we are born our bodies develop a massive and completely random assortment of antibodies to protect us from viruses and other nasty microorganisms. During the development of the adaptive immune system the cells that signal these antibodies to be released (T lymphocytes) don’t know the difference between a worm and our own cell. Remember they were made randomly.

Our thymus performs a test on the cells and removes any cell that might react against your own body. Any and everything that doesn’t attack your own cells will float through the bloodstream until it runs into something it can react with. Most of the time this will be bacteria or a virus infected cell. Sometimes it will be pollen, dust, or even mold in the air. I want to emphasize how the randomness of our immune system allows it to bind to almost any foreign substance.

Having allergies is a good thing

The randomness of the adaptive immune system was developed so our body could neutralize any new diseases that develop, thus saving the human race from extinction. This could also be detrimental becuase we can develop everyday allergies. However, I think i will take a runny nose rather than dying from the next strain of the Swine Flu.

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