Purpose of Human Appendix Finally Uncovered?

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Purpose of Human Appendix Finally Uncovered?  

 

For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors

figured it had no function. When infected the appendix can turn deadly.

It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in

time. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine awithout them

 

The function of the appendix seems related to the massive amount of

bacteria populating the human digestive system, according to the study

in the Journal of Theoretical Biology. There are more bacteria than

human cells in the typical body. Most are good and help digest food. But

sometimes the flora of bacteria in the intestines die, or are purged.

Diseases such as cholera or amoebic dysentery would clear the gut of

useful bacteria. In that case, the appendix's job is to reboot the

digestive system.

 

The appendix acts as a safe house for bacteria, and as a bacteria

factory, cultivating the good germs. That use is not needed in a modern

industrialized society. If a person's gut flora dies, it can usually be

repopulated easily with microbes they pick up from other people.   But

before dense populations in modern times and during epidemics of cholera

that affected a whole region, it wasn't as easy to grow back that

bacteria, and the appendix came in handy.

 

In less developed countries, where the appendix may be still useful, the

rate of appendicitis is lower than in the U.S., other studies have

shown. He said the appendix may be another case of an overly hygienic

society triggering an overreaction by the body's immune system.

 

Even though the appendix seems to have a function, people should still

have them removed when they are inflamed because it could turn deadly.

About 300 to 400 Americans die of appendicitis each year, according to

the CDC.

 

Five scientists not connected with the research said that the Duke

theory makes sense and raises interesting questions. The idea " seems by

far the most likely " explanation for the function of the appendix, said

Brandeis University biochemistry professor Douglas Theobald. " It makes

evolutionary sense. " The theory led Gary Huffnagle, a University of

Michigan internal medicine and microbiology professor, to wonder about

the value of another body part that is often yanked: " I'll bet

eventually we'll find the same sort of thing with the tonsils. "

 

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(http://www.cnn.com/2007/HEALTH/10/05/appendix.purpose.ap/index.html)