Quote:
Originally Posted by SneakySnake
There was a documentary on TV recently about being too clean and the link with the cases of hyper-allergic reactions. People (the studies were in Africa) who have lots of parasites etc seem to have a low incidence of allergies. There was a theory related to development of the immune system. Have to look it up again now!
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Exactly. Some parasites seem to produce their own anti-inflammatory substances that they release into their hosts. I suppose such a mechanism could be seen as the beginnings of a symbiotic relationship rather than a purely parasitic one. When one organism depends upon another for its survival, it seems natural that traits that enhance the survivability of both organisms would be selected by the parasite. Speaking as a non-scientist, it seems very possible to me that perhaps most of the symbiotic relationships we see in nature today began as parasitic ones.