What is Hashimoto’s Disease?

Hashimoto’s disease, also known as Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, is an autoimmune condition in which the immune system mistakenly attacks the healthy tissue of the thyroid gland instead of protecting it, which causes thyroid gland inflammation. The thyroid gland is located in front of the neck and is responsible for secreting hormones that influence every chemical reaction in the body, particularly energy, metabolism, reproductive health, and digestion.

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History Of Hashimoto's Disease

Hashimoto's disease gets its name from Japanese physician Hakaru Hashimoto, who lived from 1881 to 1934 and studied at the Kyushu University medical school. He was the first one to describe the symptoms of patients who had an unusual infiltration of lymphocytes in their thyroids. The study was published in a German journal in 1912. This report helped other physicians understand more about hypothyroidism, a condition that was becoming increasingly common in patients with iodine deficiencies that weren't obviously caused by a dietary deficiency. It wasn't until 1957 that the condition was recognized as being an autoimmune disease. As far as autoimmune diseases go, Hashimoto's disease was the first organ-specific one to be identified.

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