The awareness week about type 2 inflammation will take place from May 18th to 22nd, 2026.
When your body is faced with illness, injury, or invasion by foreign bodies such as viruses, bacteria, or parasites, inflammation is the body’s defense response to start the healing process.
The immune system responds to illness and injury by sending out inflammatory cells to fight off the threat. The result is called acute inflammation, which you may experience as:
- Pain or tenderness
- Fever
- swelling
- Reddened skin at the injury site
Although this type of inflammation is unpleasant, it is a healthy reaction. It disappears once the body is healed.
But with chronic inflammation, your body continues to release inflammatory cells for months or years, even when there is no threat. When this happens, the process that is supposed to heal your body can harm it.
Healthcare providers refer to this as type 2 inflammation. “I describe type 2 inflammation as a specific type of swelling in the body that is often associated with allergic diseases and can occur in multiple organs at once, such as the skin, nose, airways and lungs,” said Payel Gupta, MD, triple board-certified allergist and clinical assistant professor at SUNY Downstate Medical Center and Mt. Sinai Medical Center in New York. “If you have this type of inflammation in one part of your body, you may also have it in another part of your body.”
Related Conditions
Because your skin, nose, airways, and lungs are possible sites for type 2 inflammation, the list of conditions associated with type 2 inflammation—including those that often occur together—is extensive. Common comorbidities include:
- Allergies – An allergy is a reaction of the immune system to a normally harmless substance, such as certain foods or plants. People who do not suffer from this allergy generally do not react to the substance.
- asthma – Asthma is a lung disease that causes inflammation and narrowing of the airways of the lungs, which can lead to mild or severe breathing difficulties.
- Chronic rhinosinusitis with nasal polyps (CRSwNP) – This chronic inflammatory disease causes benign growths called nasal polyps to form in your sinuses or nose, which can cause bothersome symptoms such as sinus pressure and difficulty breathing. Even after surgical removal, nasal polyps often grow back.
- Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) – This disease damages the airways and other parts of your lungs, making it difficult to breathe. Smoking is the most common cause of COPD, but there are also other causes, such as environmental pollutants.
- eczema – Eczema is a chronic inflammatory condition that causes dry, itchy, inflamed skin. Atopic dermatitis is the most common form of eczema.
- Eosinophilic esophagitis (EoE) – This chronic disease occurs in response to triggers such as certain foods or environmental allergens. A person’s esophagus is flooded with white blood cells, causing painful swelling of the esophagus. It may become difficult to eat or swallow comfortably.
- Nodular pruritus – This condition, which causes raised, itchy skin bumps, can occur anywhere on the body but is most common on the stomach, arms, and legs.
- Urticaria – Urticaria is the medical term for hives, which are red, itchy welts that can appear anywhere on the body, appear often and then disappear. Hives may reoccur over a period of weeks or even months, often for no apparent reason. When this happens, it is called chronic spontaneous urticaria.
If people have two or more of these conditions, Gupta said healthcare providers should consider whether underlying type 2 inflammation could be making these conditions worse. “Environmental triggers such as allergens such as pollen, animal dander, dust mites or mold, as well as pollution or infections can trigger or worsen type 2 inflammation,” she said. “In these cases, it is important to alleviate the underlying type 2 inflammation as much as possible to reduce the severity of comorbidities.”
Lack of awareness of type 2 inflammation among both patients and healthcare professionals can lead to delayed diagnosis, especially if you have more than one condition. This lack of awareness also means that the conditions can significantly impact your quality of life and you may not understand that specific treatment can potentially make your chronic inflammatory conditions much more manageable.
Diagnosis of type 2 inflammation
To treat underlying inflammation, a healthcare professional must identify inflammation beyond just one condition, such as asthma or EoE. One way doctors can find out if you have widespread inflammation is to measure the number of eosinophils in your blood.
Eosinophils are a type of white blood cell that protect your body from allergens. They can also be a marker for type 2 inflammation. If your blood contains too many eosinophils, this will help your doctor diagnose type 2 inflammation.
Another way your doctor can detect type 2 inflammation in your body is by using a breath test called a fractional nitric oxide test. This test measures the amount of nitric oxide you exhale with each breath. The more nitric oxide, the more swollen the airways are, Gupta said.
Which type of HCP can diagnose or treat type 2 inflammation-related diseases?
According to Gupta, you don’t always need to see a specialist right away if your conditions are well controlled. “But if you ever feel like your conditions are not under control or are not responding to your current treatments, you should ask for a referral to a specialist.”
Of course, you may already be seeing a specialist. For example, people with eczema might see a dermatologist, someone with EoE would likely see a gastroenterologist, and someone with COPD would likely see a pulmonologist.
For complicated conditions such as type 2 inflammation, it is important to have a multidisciplinary medical team behind you. Therefore, you should also see an allergist. Allergists can help treat all type 2 inflammatory diseases and should have up-to-date knowledge of medications that can help. Gupta said: “Many of the drugs used for type 2 inflammation can help more than one condition, but they are often biologics and require specialized knowledge and access.”
Fighting disease, not curing it
Unfortunately, there is no cure for allergic disease or type 2 inflammatory disease. “We can treat it with medication, but it is important to understand that if you stop taking the medication, your type 2 inflammation will likely come back,” Gupta said.
If the underlying inflammation is not further treated, flare-ups will continue to occur and can sometimes become significantly worse. “External triggers such as environmental pollution, allergens and infections can then trigger further inflammation [inflammation you already have]and that’s when your body can get into real trouble,” she said. “That’s why there are still 11 asthma deaths a day in this country – because we’re not getting a good handle on that underlying inflammation.”
On the other hand, if patients with type 2 inflammation-related diseases are able to keep their inflammation under control with the right medication and continue to have their condition monitored, their outlook is bright. “With all the good treatment options available to us, we should be able to treat inflammation-related type 2 diseases so well that you hardly notice that you have asthma, EoE or urticaria,” Gupta said. “Effective therapies and shared decision-making to choose the best therapy for you can finally get your type 2 inflammation under control.”
This educational resource was created with support from Sanofi, a member of the HealthyWomen Corporate Advisory Council.
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