Such impasses have caused the medical community to begin rethinking its approach to illness. Instead of continuing to "treat the head if the head hurts, treat the foot if the foot hurts," the new thinking is that treatment should be directed at the causes of illness in the system as a whole. The medical community is also beginning to look to the body's own immune system for answers.
種種僵局使醫學界開始反思，不能再只是「頭痛醫頭，腳痛醫腳」，而應該找出整體病因對症下藥；他們也開始把注意力放到人體自身的免疫系統。