Allergy and Autoimmune Diseases – Imaluop

Hi, today we are going to discuss a topic in immunology allergy and autoimmune diseases and their similarities as well as dissimilarity. Allergy and autoimmune diseases both are due to the activities of our immune system.

Sometimes we use both of them in a similar sense but both are not the same. When our immunity system cells encounter external substances they respond and cause allergy but when our own body cells or tissue detected as enemy by the elements of our immune system is known as autoimmunity.

Now we will discuss both allergy and autoimmune diseases below. 

More Details on Allergy: 

It is a hypersensitivity in our immune system which occurs in response to the external enemy substances. It is mainly mediated by immunoglobulin E and it is most commonly observed in skin and mucous membranes.

The substances which cause allergic reactions are called allergens which may be different for different people. Different people suffer from allergy for different allergens sometimes it may be any food, any jewel or any medication. If a food, jewelry or medication is allergic for a person then it is not sure that it would cause allergy to another person also.

But some foods like seafood are most frequently observed to be allergic for most of the people. Allergens act like antigen in our body which causes sudden extensive allergic reaction. 

Most Frequently Observed Allergens: 

Allergens are different for different people but some substances are very common to produce allergic reactions. For example, seafood oil, latex, some antibiotics like penicillin, feather, dust particles, pollen dust of some species, mites and ticks. 

Symptoms of Allergic Reaction: 

Allergic reactions produce huge amounts of histamine and serotonin which cause sneezing, coughing, itching, red eyes, running nose, rashes, difficulty in breathing. Allergens react with antibody immunoglobulin E which causes allergic reaction in our body.

Antihistamines, adrenaline give relief against allergic reaction and reduce the symptoms of allergic reaction. 

Basic Idea About Autoimmunity: 

We discussed what is allergy and now we will discuss about the autoimmunity and autoimmune diseases. Autoimmune is an abnormal condition of our immunity system where our immunity system starts to identify our healthy body cells or tissue as our enemy. Due to this hypersensitivity of our immunity system we suffer from various diseases which are known as autoimmune diseases. 

Reason of Autoimmunity: 

In higher vertebrates like humans are able to identify which cells are their own healthy body cells and which ones are harmful or external enemies. But due to some metabolic or genetic disorders they are unable to recognise their own body cells and start to attack them and cause autoimmune diseases.

For example, Addison’s disease, polymyositis, rheumatoid arthritis are common examples of autoimmune disorders.  

Major Similarities Between Allergy and Autoimmunity: 

Allergy and autoimmune response both are a condition of our immunity system which have some similarities: 

Allergy and autoimmune response both show some common symptoms like fatigue, itching. 

Allergy and Autoimmunity both are due to hyperactivity of our immunity system which cause unnecessary consumption of metabolic energy and create irritation. 

Difference Between Allergy and Autoimmunity: 

Both allergy and autoimmunity have fundamental similarities along with some distinguishing features which makes them different. 

Allergy	Autoimmunity
An abnormal response of our immunity system against external substances which may not be harmful for us.	Autoimmunity is a failure to recognise own healthy body cells and attack their own body cells which may cause dangerous disorders.
External substances like seafood, fish oils, latex, pollen grains, dust particles trigger abnormal immune response.	Internal healthy body cells or tissue trigger our immune system to respond to such unnecessary immune response.
As a result of an allergic reaction we suffer from vigorous sneezing, coughing, running nose, eye becomes red, rash appears on skin.	As a result of autoimmune response different autoimmune diseases are observed for example, rheumatoid arthritis, inflammatory bowel disease.

Reference: Allergy and Autoimmune Diseases

Read More: AIDS and HIV Biological Study