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Every one of us deals with bacteria and viruses every day. However, some people get sick easily, while others are more resistant to infection. Why is this happening and is it possible not to get sick?
Not a day goes by without the mass media scaring us with new information about the dangers to our health everywhere. Moreover, the methods of infection with various viruses and microbes give us the impression that this enemy is external, that the disease comes to us from outside, from someone else. However, all attempts to avoid an attack in a crowded metropolis simply lose their meaning. What remains? Get rid of prejudices and arm yourself with useful information to strengthen the body’s defenses.
How the immune system works
“The microbe is nothing, the immune system is everything,” said French microbiologist Louis Pasteur. In other words, if the body has stable immunity, then microbes and viruses will not be able, firstly, to penetrate the body, and secondly, to spread in it. The organs and cells of the immune system are scattered throughout the body, but are connected through the blood and lymph vessels. In the bone marrow, macrophages and lymphocytes, the main figures in immunological surveillance, are formed and pass through the first stages of development. Lymphocytes are divided into two large groups. B-lymphocytes from the bone marrow are sent to all lymphoid organs, which include the spleen, mucous membranes of the respiratory tract and intestines, and lymph nodes. Their function is the production of antibodies – protein molecules that belong to immunoglobulins. By attaching themselves to foreign cells, antibodies weaken them and allow macrophages and other defense cells to do their good work. Simplifying somewhat, we can say that B-lymphocytes are responsible for protecting the body from bacteria and protozoa and their toxins.
T-lymphocytes turn on when we are threatened by a viral attack, they also destroy aggressive cells of tumors or donor transplants. In the thymus, or thymus, a complex biochemical process occurs, as a result of which T-lymphocytes are divided into T-helpers, which enhance the work of B-lymphocytes, and T-killers. The latter, in contact with the affected cells, destroy the virus (and the antibodies, meanwhile, neutralize the virus particles that have entered the bloodstream).
Support Group
A detailed understanding of how the immune system works has allowed scientists to create various means to maintain or stimulate our immunity. “For the first time in medical practice, preparations derived from the thymus gland of cattle, such as T-activin, began to be used,” says Alla Simonova, Doctor of Medical Sciences, an employee of the Institute of Immunology. “They had virtually no side effects.” Then there were preparations from the bone marrow – heavy artillery, which is used in oncological diseases, hepatitis and HIV.
Modern drugs allow you to increase the amount of substances that are normally present in our body, but they may simply not be enough to fight infection. These are immunoglobulins, that is, ready-made antibodies, as well as interferon and its synthetic analogues, which help fight influenza and other viral infections of the respiratory system, viral hepatitis. Synthetic immunomodulating drugs (or immunoboosters) stimulate the formation of antibodies. They make life easier for carriers of the herpes virus, are used to treat and prevent influenza. These funds seem to be a real salvation during virus epidemics. Advertising assures them of their harmlessness, they can be bought without a prescription and used as a preventive measure. However, doctors treat immunomodulators with caution. “The area of their application is clinical immunology,” says Alla Simonova. “Decades of my experience show that they can give paradoxical reactions, from exacerbation of a latent infectious process to an asthmatic attack.” According to her, there are two areas where the use of immunomodulators is always justified: in combination with antibiotics in the treatment of inflammatory processes and between chemotherapy courses of oncological diseases. In addition, she admits, immunologists have not finally decided for themselves whether the long-term use of immunomodulators leads to the depletion of the body’s immune resources. Doctor of Medical Sciences Mikhail Nelyubov agrees with her: “The state of our immune system cannot be considered separately from the cardiovascular, nervous, endocrine systems,” he notes. – I would not recommend using immunomodulators prophylactically, to strengthen immunity, especially on their own. This can lead to a chain reaction of exacerbations of chronic diseases.”
Bacteria or virus?
A bacterium is a living microorganism that lives both outside and inside us – in all organs and systems (with the exception of blood and cerebrospinal fluid). Our body is home to billions of bacteria, without which we simply would not survive. When some of their species dramatically increase their population, we get sick, for example, with bronchitis, pneumonia. Special types of bacteria cause typhus, cholera, diphtheria, tuberculosis; thanks to other microorganisms, we get healthy yogurt, delicious cheese, fine wine. Antibiotics either kill bacteria (both harmful and beneficial) or stop them from multiplying.
The virus multiplies only when it enters the cells of our body. Antibiotics in case of viral diseases (flu, runny nose …) are ineffective. They are treated with antiviral drugs that are designed according to a completely different principle (for example, drugs containing DNA fragments that are embedded in the DNA of the virus and prevent its reproduction).
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- Jon Kabat-Zinn: “Meditation strengthens the immune system”
How to help the immune system
First of all, it is worth realizing that efforts aimed at avoiding contact with microbes, viruses, fungi are completely in vain and not useful. If you endlessly disinfect everything and everything, there is a risk of destroying the “good” bacteria and thus harming your health … The bacterial flora – intestinal, skin – is vital for us. There is also a unique friendly microflora in our home. If we blindly destroy all these “little lives,” as bacteria were once called, our immune system will lose its job. And then all its unclaimed power can fall on the host organism – this is how a variety of allergies and other autoimmune diseases arise. We should learn to intelligently coexist with bacteria. Respecting the unified space of the living world, avoiding the unreasonable invasion of disinfectants and antibiotics means reducing the risk of diseases invading your life.
Fatigue, constant stress, a not too healthy lifestyle, dietary errors or excesses, insufficient sleep are also violations of the main points of the “I want to be healthy” contract that we conclude with our body. For an adult, you need to sleep at least six hours a day – this allows the hormones that restore the body’s strength to fully complete their work. It is worth avoiding overstrain, making sure that rest is a mandatory item in your work schedule, especially during viral epidemics. Positive thinking also strengthens the immune system*. Listening to your body, nourishing it properly, recognizing the first signs of fatigue is the best way to prevent diseases. After all, despite the densely populated microcosm of our body, only a person is the only real master of his bodily shell.