beartheminus t1_j0sufhs wrote
So the medieval doctors had it completely backwards, and by covering up the bad smells with those masks actually probably made things worse.
InNOutFrenchFries t1_j0tfm0e wrote
The results showed that only the saliva has increase rates of TNF-alpha and IgA, however the blood did not show any increase, I think the medieval docs had it right, unless they were going to eat them.
DooDooSlinger t1_j0tx0qt wrote
Uh mucosal immunity is one of the most important steps to preventing and clearing infection. Barrier immunity takes care of the bulk of pathogens, complement is then the next biggest protection, and even with the antibody response, mucosal antibodies are the first to be produced. The antibody response takes several days to develop, often too late given the stage of disease. Innate immunity is incredibly important to prevent and constrain the course of disease. Some people can live (tough) lives with total deficiency of antibodies, but not a single human has been born alive without complement for instance. Edit: the same goes for skin infections. The skin is the most important barrier, followed by complement, then peripheral immune cells (mast cells, langherans cells, ...). When bacterial infections reach the blood, you're often pretty fucked.
DooDooSlinger t1_j0twp6t wrote
I think it's not that obvious that the effect is sufficient to reduce transmission of disease or course of disease, would need to be proved. Would also need to quantify the amount of smell which causes immune reaction, or if it is the "psychological" reaction to smells or the compounds in the smell / activation of the associated receptors which trigger it. It may well be that covering the smell still leads to activation of "bad smell" receptors and thus immune response.
funky_fart_smeller t1_j0uky4d wrote
Hi there DooDooSlinger, Funky_Fart_Smeller checking in. I believe in the manuscript they do discuss the measures they took to 'personalize' the the levels and types of disgust, given that it differs drastically from person to person. In fact, they also reference earlier research showing that simply seeing a photo of a person sneezing can trigger an immune response.
It is also interesting that along with the increased immune response, sensitivity to bitter tastes is also triggered by disgusting smells.
katarh t1_j0wynuo wrote
Counterpoint - by covering up their faces to avoid the bad smells, they likely avoided some respiratory illnesses along the way.
beartheminus t1_j0x7vsw wrote
Yes I was thinking this, and it's probably why they continued to do it. It worked, they were just wrong on why.
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