Appendix May Have A Purpose After All

Doctors Say Seemingly Useless Organ Produces Good Germs For The Digestive System

(AP)  Some scientists think they have figured out the real job of the troublesome and seemingly useless appendix: It produces and protects good germs for your gut.

That's the theory from surgeons and immunologists at Duke University Medical School, published online in a scientific journal this week.

For generations the appendix has been dismissed as superfluous. Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them.

And when infected the appendix can turn deadly. It gets inflamed quickly and some people die if it isn't removed in time. Two years ago, 321,000 Americans were hospitalized with appendicitis, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

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 of it is good and helps 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. The appendix's job is to reboot the digestive system in that case.

The appendix “acts as a good safe house for bacteria,” said Duke surgery professor Bill Parker, a study co-author. Its location - just below the normal one-way flow of food and germs in the large intestine in a sort of gut cul-de-sac - helps support the theory, he said.

Also, the worm-shaped organ outgrowth acts like a bacteria factory, cultivating the good germs, Parker said.

That use is not needed in a modern industrialized society, Parker said. If a person's gut flora dies, they can usually repopulate it easily with germs they pick up from other people, he said. 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, Parker said.

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, Parker said. 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.”

[byrdjenkins]

Dang, maybe I shouldn''t of had it removed after all?

[racam_us]

I think in the end, the only useless appendage to be found in humans will be George Bush''s brain if he has one. Although I think his heart would come in a close second, with denying 10,000,000 children health coverage.

[tnt1954]

if you were a quintillinaire would you give
your whole fortune for the children who need
health care? all ten million of them? food, shelter,
clothing, birthday parties are all part of good
health. share and share alike. and of course,
personally watch over them all like the ''good
surrogate parent'', and then take criticism from
every amateur know it all in the world and then
get sued for malpractice when one of them didn''t
live to 120 yrs. old? and of course, wake up
ten times a night to comfort them when they
were real sick, or pay for 24/7/366 care for
all of those that were injured or sick? at five
yrs. old i was put under for surgery. lucky for
me my folks were teachers and had blue cross.
when i woke up, a kid in my kindergarten class
was screaming her head off in the bed next to me
the doctors operating on her with no anaestheisa,
her parents had no money, no insurance so therefore
no anaesthesia. she''d had an appendicitis.
they worked feverishly all day and she died the
next day. it affected me the rest of my life.
i never got
outta line again. i was so glad to get outta
that hospital and never mentioned any pain
ever again for fear, i''d be put back in the hospital
for sawbones to saw at. doctorphobia.mengele fear.
i decided right then and there to stay as far
away from medicos as possible.

[nothappyatall]

"Doctors figured it had no function. Surgeons removed them routinely. People live fine without them. "

Yeah right, it wouldnt BE there if it had no purpose!
People THINK they lived fine without theirs, but how would they know that and who would have though to track back some health problem years later to the loss of the patients appendix?

[incog-nito]

Maybe I should have left it there when I had appendicitis, and died instead. NOT.

[erasmus6]

Don''t you think it is funny that they are just now figuring this out? They seem to know everything else about the human body, except for a part of the brain.

When I had my gallbladder out, they took my appendix too. They told me that quite often when the gallbladder is removed the appendix is the next to go. And seeing as I always feared having appendicitis, I didn''t object.:)

[missingamerica]

Gad....and I got this six inch scar when I wuz a kid for nothing.

No, wait - it wasn''t for nothing. The first day sucked (scream if it hurts when I push here), but I think on the second day after my surgery I drank 17 hand-made milkshakes.

It was worth it. Well, except for the part about how I woke up wif an erection and the nurse smacked it wif a hunk of metal when it strayed into the field of the bandage...

[columbiabro]

still sounds pretty useless if you ask me

[godofredo29]

I use mine to write with.

[incog-nito]

Yeah right. These scientists have way too much time on their hands. While it''s still unclear if the appendix does anything useful, before the advent of modern surgery its main purpose was to kill people randomly in the most excruciating manner. Can you imagine what would happen to the 321,000 Americans who get appendicitis every year if no surgery is available?

[conserva-2009]

Racam, what a class act. ''Denying'' health care in families up to $80k a year? Tell you what, I''ll run for office, demand health care for families up to $90 k and call the Dem version a ''cut.'' **** off.

BTW, I know why I have an appendix, but why don''t I have a table of contents?

[grammawhamma]

I agree with newster...if it didn''t have a purpose it wouldn''t be there. As for the tonsils...they already found out about 20 years ago that they benefit the body to fight germs...that''s why they are rarely removed anymore.

[thgdriver]

brings back memories of that classic movie--Run Silent, Run Deep. Remember, they only had a core man on the sub and Cary Grant is the captain, the medic cuts out the painful useless appendix, then the cook makes a pumpkin pie. The war is won and we all lived happily ever after.