Environmental illness and misdiagnosis--a growing problem

Abstract

A fringe group of medical practitioners called clinical ecologists believes that hypersensitivity to common foods, chemicals, and organisms can disrupt the immune system and lead to diverse medical or psychiatric problems. They believe this condition, frequently referred to as environmental illness (EI), can be diagnosed on the basis of a patient's history of exposure, and the results of provocation testing and elimination diets. They advise treating the condition with avoidance of the offending agent(s), special diets, and symptom neutralization. Other treatments are often recommended. Clinical ecology beliefs and practices have been criticized by mainstream medical practitioners who have urged that EI not be recognized as a clinical syndrome. Research has shown that individuals receiving a diagnosis of EI frequently have common psychiatric or medical disorders, which are usually unrecognized and untreated. Thus, the clinical ecologists are misinterpreting common signs and symptoms of illness and failing to prescribe appropriate and proven therapies. The advice and recommendations of a clinical ecologist can lead to iatrogenic social and occupational disability.