Obtułowicz K
Department of Allergology, Chair of the Occupational and Environment Medicine, College of Medicine, Jagiellonian University, 31 531 Kraków, ul. Snladeckich 10, Poland.
Przegl Lek. 2001;58(4):204-7.
A rapid increase in the prevalence of allergic diseases of our times as well as a significant increase in the IgE production in our population cannot be explained only by the genetic influence. Allergy is a growing, special problem of the industrial regions and well developed countries. The environmental factors and style of life seem to be the most important reasons of this phenomenon. The environment in which we live is full of natural and manmade substances capable of causing reactions in susceptible individuals. Xenobiotic--unnatural substances which appeared in polluted environment and act on our immunity may induce the suppression of it and in this way provoke the infection or neoplastic diseases. They may also induce the hyper-reactivity reaction and then become the reason of allergic or autoagression diseases. We distinquish two types of environmental pollution. Type I--with a high level of SO2 which induce infections and the chronic inflammation as a consequence of their irritants and a toxic action and type II pollutants (NOx, O3, VOC--volatile organic chemicals) which promote allergic diseases. The allergy in polluted areas additionally is accompanied very often by pseudo-allergy and toxic reactions. In order to stop the present increasing trend of allergic diseases we must increase our attempts to control allergens and irritants. There is no doubt today that the development of allergic diseases is related to the genetic predisposition and environmental factors.
在我们这个时代，过敏性疾病的患病率迅速上升，而且我们人群中免疫球蛋白E（IgE）的产生也显著增加，这不能仅仅用遗传影响来解释。过敏是工业化地区和发达国家日益严重的特殊问题。环境因素和生活方式似乎是这一现象的最重要原因。我们生活的环境中充满了能够在易感个体中引发反应的天然和人造物质。外源性物质——出现在污染环境中并作用于我们免疫系统的非天然物质，可能会抑制免疫系统，从而引发感染或肿瘤疾病。它们还可能引发高反应性反应，进而成为过敏性或自身攻击性疾病的原因。我们区分两种类型的环境污染。第一类——二氧化硫含量高，由于其刺激性和毒性作用会引发感染和慢性炎症；第二类污染物（氮氧化物、臭氧、挥发性有机化合物）会引发过敏性疾病。在污染地区，过敏常常还伴有假过敏和毒性反应。为了阻止目前过敏性疾病不断增加的趋势，我们必须加大控制过敏原和刺激物的力度。如今毫无疑问，过敏性疾病的发展与遗传易感性和环境因素有关。
