Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011570 (depression)
 172,036 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Several different meanings have been attached to the term "chemical sensitivity" by those who use it. Feeling ill from odors is a symptom reported by approximately one-third of the population. The syndrome of chemical sensitivity, frequently called "Multiple Chemical Sensitivity" or "MCS" has been the subject of three federally-sponsored workshops; at least five different case definitions for research on MCS have been proposed. In contrast, the hypothesis that chemical sensitivity may be a mechanism for disease posits that a broad spectrum of "recognized" chronic illnesses, ranging from asthma and migraine to depression and chronic fatigue, may be the consequence of environmental chemical exposures. According to this theory, a two-step process occurs: (1) an initial salient exposure event(s) (for example, a one-time, intermittent, or continuous exposure to pesticides, solvents, or air contaminants in a sick building) interacts with a susceptible individual, causing loss of tolerance for everyday, low level chemical inhalants (car exhaust, fragrances, cleaning agents), as well as for foods, drugs, alcohol, and caffeine; (2) thereafter, such common, formerly well-tolerated substances trigger symptoms, thus perpetuating illness. "Masking" (acclimatization, apposition, and addiction) may hide these exposure-symptom relationships, thus obfuscating the environmental etiology of the illness. Accumulating clinical observations lend credence to a view of chemical sensitivity as an emerging theory of disease causation and underscore the need for its testing in a rational, scientific manner. While chemical sensitivity may be the consequence of chemical exposure, the term "toxicant-induced loss of tolerance" more fully describes the two-step process under scrutiny.
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PMID:Chemical sensitivity: symptom, syndrome or mechanism for disease? 871 50