The Nuance

Why Does Inflammation Seem to Underlie All Sickness?

It’s a culprit in diseases ranging from arthritis to depression

Markham Heid
Elemental
Published in
4 min readOct 17, 2019

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Illustration: Kieran Blakey

WWriting in 1889, the Swiss pathologist Ernst Ziegler observed that “a brief and precise definition of inflammation is altogether impossible.” Even back then, experts like Ziegler recognized that inflammation manifests in…

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Markham Heid
Elemental

I’m a frequent contributor at TIME, the New York Times, and other media orgs. I write mostly about health and science. I like long walks and the Grateful Dead.