Interpretation of the hygiene and microflora hypothesis for allergic diseases through epigenetic epidemiology.

The hygiene hypothesis (HH) proposed by Strachan in 1989 was expanded to explain the inverse association between the occurrence of allergy disorders and the risk of infectious diseases and parasite infestation. The microflora hypothesis (MH) suggests that gut microbial dysbiosis in early life might trigger hypersensitivity disorders. The sharing concept of both HH and MH is gene-environment interaction, which is also a key concept in epigenetics. The amalgamation of epidemiology and epigenetics has created a scientific discipline termed epigenetic epidemiology. To accomplish an era of gene-environment-wide interaction studies, it is necessary to launch a national human epigenome project.