A recent study by Israeli researchers found that people who suffer from sundowner have significantly reduced their immune system and increased their susceptibility to infections, which in turn makes them more susceptible to contracting infections.
The findings, published online in the journal BMJ, indicate that sundowners could have a profound effect on the health of people in the developing world.
Researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Israel Institute for Advanced Study used a large number of cases of sundowner-associated infections in an effort to determine how sundowners affects immune function.
“In our study, we found that there was a significant reduction in the number of circulating anti-inflammatory cytokines (IL-1β, IL-6, IL6-I) in people with sundowners,” Dr. Yoav Shofner, the study’s lead author and an immunologist at TAU’s Department of Health, told The Jerusalem News.
“The results of our study show that sundown is a potent pathogen that increases the susceptibility of patients to infections and causes more damage to the immune system,” he added.
“We did not find a significant decrease in the amount of circulating cytokines in people who were infected with sundown, nor in people receiving sundown.”
According to Dr. ShofNER, the researchers observed a “sharp increase” in circulating IL-1- and IL-2-related cytokines when sundowners were present in patients, suggesting that sundowner may lead to the “increase in circulating cytokine levels”.
Dr. Shoffner also stressed that the researchers used a sample of 2,715 patients, and did not identify individuals with more severe disease or with less severe illness.
“If you look at our study in the general population, there are about one-fifth of people who are exposed to sundown,” he said.
“There are also about two-thirds of people whose immune system is less than healthy and there are two-fifths of people with a healthy immune system.”
The researchers also found that patients with a low number of Sundown-associated infection episodes experienced an average of about 20% fewer illnesses.
Dr. Michael Tchernitsky, a researcher at TAUs Department of Pathology, explained that while sundown-induced infections could lead to chronic inflammatory diseases, the immune response to sundowners is “much stronger than other infections”.
“Sundowns infection is so mild, and its so short-lived, that the immune systems have a very limited response,” he told The News.
Dr Tchernyks group observed that people with low incidence of sundown infections experienced a significantly reduced number of infections with other viruses, which may explain why sundowns infections tend to be more severe.
“Sundowners is so subtle that people don’t know it’s there, they don’t think they’re having a problem,” he explained.
“They may have a fever, and that fever may be caused by sundown.
We know that a lot of people are affected by this virus.”
And if you have chronic inflammation, you may have an increased risk of developing chronic disease.
And sundown could cause inflammation of the blood vessel system.
“Dr. Tcherner added that patients treated with sundowner also have a lower rate of mortality.”
I have been treating people for sundowners and I’ve seen very few deaths,” he noted.”
So we think it’s a very small percentage of people, but it’s certainly very important to get rid of sundowners.
“Dr Tchcherner said that while the findings suggest sundowners might have a beneficial impact on immune function, it is important to “take the opportunity to make sure the immune mechanisms are properly functioning” so that the disease is prevented from progressing.”
People need to know that the risk of sundOWN is very low,” he stressed.”
As an immunology expert, I am extremely concerned about sundowners.
The research indicates that there is no direct or indirect link between sundown and an increased susceptibility to infection.
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