Acquired immune and mitochondrial dysfunction hypothesis

A stressor of some kind (virus, accident, surgery, chemical or other toxic exposure, other trauma) causes mitochondrial disorders and immune dysfunction in genetically susceptible people. | last4The mitochondrial and immune dysfunction could have been occurring prior to the stressor due to infectious agents, acquired over the lifetime of the affected individual. | last4The mitochondrial dysfunction could cause or contribute to the immune dysfunction. | last4

After the stressor has come and gone, low-level infectious agents living throughout the body reactivate, and inflammation, including mast cell activation, occurs. | last4Inflammation, from reactivated infections, low gut motility/SIBO, new exposures to toxins (with a more sensitized immune system), et al., affects the body and the brain. | last4Microglial activation in the brain causes Hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) dysregulation. | last4A downward spiral of infectious reactivation, inflammation, dysautonomia, and HPA axis dysregulation is set up, which perpetuates the illness.