The medical community believes many chronic diseases are caused by inflammation. But where is that inflammation coming from and why?  Are the immune cells attacking the person’s own cells, or is the immune system mounting an attack against an intracellular pathogen that is difficult to eradicate and has not been diagnosed? The immune system has difficulty fighting intracellular pathogens; and in response to intracellular pathogens and the abnormal proteins generated by the pathogens, the immune system generates a cascade of immune defenses, i.e. the war within, which includes a high level of inflammation and generation of adhesion molecules.

The medical system and insurers are reluctant to accept infectious causes of chronic disease; and present obstacles to making the diagnosis and treating the patient. When a patient is found to have high levels of “inflammation”, the patient may be diagnosed as having a chronic inflammatory disease; an autoimmune disease in which the immune system attacks normal cells; or any other chronic disease believed to be “inflammatory”.

The immune system attack on pathogens causes “inflammation”, and the harder the immune system has to fight, the greater the level of inflammation.  Inflammation is not a separate disease—it is a response by the immune system trying to fight difficult to treat intracellular pathogens.