AUTOIMMUNE DISEASE: A Silent Epidemic of Body Betrayal

Course overview

Autoimmune diseases ADs are on the rise, and are projected to become even more prominent disorders in the future Conrad, 2023; Miller, 2023; Dinse 2020. There are more than 100 different ADs, and 50 million Americans have one or more ADs. The risk is significantly higher if you are a woman. ADs can be difficult to diagnose, expensive to treat, are significant drivers of health care utilization and currently cannot be cured. ADs can be devastating as patients may experience chronic fatigue, chronic pain, drug dependency, depression and social isolation. These conditions often hit people during the prime of their working and peak reproductive years. We urgently need to better understand these diseases and to find more effective ways to prevent, diagnose, treat and cure them. But why are our immune systems betraying us What triggers the immune system to be so hypervigilant that the body becomes a victim of friendly fire Although genes play a role, research suggests that the rise in ADs is related to unprecedented changes in environment and lifestyle, including alterations in diet, upsurges in obesity, poor gut health, altered gut microbiota, infections, poor oral health, sleep deprivation, stress, air pollution, exposure to environmental toxins, and others Pisetsky, 2023. Unfortunately, in the majority of cases, ADs are not diagnosed until irreversible tissue damage has already occurred. Therefore, a key current research focus is prevention Hensvold, 2021. However, this would require the ability to predict impending disease and halt autoimmunity before it progresses to irreversible damage. This course addresses the concepts of preautoimmunity, and preclinical autoimmune disease Bieber, 2023; Hundt, 2023; Frazzei, 2022. In addition to covering the diagnosis and practical management of a range of ADs, this course will discuss the future possibility of reversing or curing ADs Willyard, 2024. What would that entail Unfortunately, the global autoimmune epidemic has received far too little attention and resources. However, the cost of inaction will be profound, both in terms of human suffering and health care expenditures. This course puts ADs in the spotlight so as to get the attention they deserve.