Repetitive strain injury, attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder and CFS are all dysregulatory diseases in that they do not have a specific pathology. They are not diseases of the specific system. The aim of this section is to show how infornet dysregulation can be a precursor to a specific disease. Asthma is used as an illustration of a specific disease, in part because the specific pathology of asthma is well understood.

Asthma: description of the disease

Asthma is a disease of variable airways obstruction that is caused by an allergic response. Although asthma sufferers can differ in the type of allergic response, the cause of the allergic response can be interpreted as an upgrading of a response that is designed to manage parasite infection (see Chapter 3). The person with asthma has an overactive inflammatory response in the airways, and this overactive response leads to inflammation of the bronchioles (the airways of the lung) causing swelling, the release of mucus and increased irritability, and hence constriction of the bronchiole muscles. The overall result is reduced airflow through the bronchioles, leading to shortness of breath, wheeze, cough and other symptoms associated with asthma. The inflammation of asthma is controlled by anti-inflammatory drugs, but asthma is not cured, in part because there is no understanding of the origin of that inflammatory response. Asthma can develop in childhood or in later life. Several factors are known to be associated with asthma onset.