
In the simplest of terms...
Chronic Inflammatory Response Syndrome (CIRS) is a progressive, multi-system, multi-symptom illness characterized by exposure to biotoxins. The ongoing inflammation can affect virtually any body organ system and, if left untreated, becomes debilitating.
What is a Water Damaged Building (WDB)?
CIRS WDB is CIRS developed after chronic exposure to the interior of water-damaged buildings typified by resident microbial growth, including bacteria, filamentous fungi (molds), mycobacteria, and actinomycetes, together with resultant biologically produced toxins and inflammagens. Quite often, they aren't obvious.
Diagnosis and Treatment
Patients with CIRS are often misdiagnosed as having depression, anxiety, post-traumatic stress disorder, and somatization, as well as Alzheimer's, Parkinsonism, allergy, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome, among others. Treating patients for these seemingly diverse conditions does not improve their symptoms of CIRS, although effective therapies for CIRS exist.
CIRS activates the innate immune system, making a proper diagnosis difficult since standard parameters of inflammation are generally negative upon laboratory evaluation.
CIRS is a brain on fire. A dominant clinical feature of CIRS is the common cognitive complaints of patients, including memory loss, mood disorders, brain fog, loss of executive function, and fatigue. This is unsurprising, considering it is a critical component of the innate immune response.
Genetic susceptibility is key in CIRS, as not everyone exposed to it will be equally affected by the illness. CIRS can also change gene expression after it occurs, which is entirely different from the genetic susceptibility that occurs from inherited genes. Therefore, genes are essential to understanding how CIRS manifests in a specific person. The role of genetics and gene expression can be tested and are an integral component of diagnosis and personalized treatment planning.
Multiple markers measure the innate response and the presence of inflammation in the brain. Jacki Meinhardt is a world-renowned provider with significant research in this area.
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