Diagnostic Testing for Inflammation

Acute inflammation is a physiological protective reaction in the human body to maintain or restore health, and is an effective weapon in the battle between the defensive immune system and primarily bacterial infections. Human beings are exposed to increasing levels of lifestyle factors, such as stress, environmental contaminants, improper nutrition, and new allergens, among others, and this diversity of factors is new for the immune system. These factors may lead to a latent, but permanent, activation of the immune system – a process that is often asymptomatic and may be referred to as "silent inflammation". If the control mechanisms to switch off the pro-inflammatory immune cell activity again are defective, or do not work at all, the "silent inflammation" significantly increases the risk of a severe, chronic inflammatory disorder (e.g. myocardial infarction, stroke, obesity, type II diabetes, Alzheimer's disease, depression, etc.) due to the permanent stress placed on the body.