Because of a lapse in government funding, the information on this website may not be up to date, transactions submitted via the website may not be processed, and the agency may not be able to respond to inquiries until appropriations are enacted. The NIH Clinical Center (the research hospital of NIH) is open. For more details about its operating status, please visit cc.nih.gov. Updates regarding government operating status and resumption of normal operations can be found at opm.gov.

NLM Logo

Environmental Illness MeSH Descriptor Data 2025


MeSH Heading
Environmental Illness
Tree Number(s)
C20.543.312
C21.223
Unique ID
D018876
RDF Unique Identifier
http://id.nlm.nih.gov/mesh/D018876
Annotation
general or unspecified; prefer specifics; coordinate with specific disease or source of illness; not for diseases caused by environmental pollution: index under specific disease and ENVIRONMENTAL POLLUTION or specific environmental pollutant
Scope Note
A polysymptomatic condition believed by clinical ecologists to result from immune dysregulation induced by common foods, allergens, and chemicals, resulting in various physical and mental disorders. The medical community has remained largely skeptical of the existence of this disease, given the plethora of symptoms attributed to environmental illness, the lack of reproducible laboratory abnormalities, and the use of unproven therapies to treat the condition. (From Segen, Dictionary of Modern Medicine, 1992)
Entry Version
ENVIR ILLNESS
Entry Term(s)
Environmental Hypersensitivities
Environmental Hypersensitivity
Environmental Illnesses
Hypersensitivities, Environmental
Hypersensitivity, Environmental
Illness, Environmental
Illnesses, Environmental
Public MeSH Note
96
History Note
96
Date Established
1996/01/01
Date of Entry
1995/05/19
Revision Date
2019/05/24
Environmental Illness Preferred
page delivered in 0.174s