Autoimmune diseases Autoimmunity - in which the immune system recognizes and attacks the self's own tissue is not as simple as it seems.
Self recognition appears to be at the heart of health as well as of certain diseases.
At the most general level, of course, this is true, and human beings remain alive and healthy only because it is so. Recently it has become clear, however, that at a finer level of detail the distinction between self and other is not absolute. One of the paths to this insight has been provided by the autoimmune disorders, in which the immune system attacks normal, healthy tissue. Autoimmune disease, which may be crippling or fatal, can strike any tissue or organ. Its victims are often in the prime of life, and for unknown reasons they are more frequently women than men.