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Due to the COVID-19 epidemic, we are a disfigured society, because many people have died of this disease, and many are and will be mentally injured – emphasizes an expert in immunology and physiology with many years of experience, Prof. Wiesław Kozak from the Nicolaus Copernicus University in Toruń. Meanwhile, the mental sphere is of great importance for maintaining health, and more specifically for the functioning of immunity. What price can we pay?
Immunity is like a seventh sense that recognizes foreign structures
Prof. Wiesław Kozak An expert on immunology and physiology emphasizes that there is a whole range of behaviors that protect the immune system. – He is under attack all year round and has to fulfill his task all the time. It is a distracted seventh sense that recognizes foreign structures that want to invade our body. Many succeed and want to settle down, and the immune system must exclude them, destroy them. There is no panacea for making it as efficient as possible, but in short, it should be said that it is about a healthy life – he emphasized.
The specialist mentioned physical activity adjusted to strength and age. It is not meant to be beyond our means, but in a way tailored to our needs and possibilities, and above all, it should be regular. – The immune system depends on the genetic makeup that we receive from our ancestors in approximately 25 percent. The rest, i.e. 75%, depends on us and our lifestyle. Adequate diet and common-sense nutrition are of great importance. It cannot be a monodiet because man is omnivorous. We should remember this and provide the body with a diverse set of substances – said prof. Cossack.
Why is fever needed in an infection?
The fever expert admitted that many people still do not understand that it is beneficial for the body at the time of infection, as it is then training the immune system. In the fight against the pathogen, fever allows you to use all the possibilities of the immune system.
In his opinion, when fever does not occur in typical infections, it means that this system has been depleted by some element. – Very often, the missing element is the lack of pyrogenic cytokine production. They alert the whole body that it is in a state of illness. There are some kind of hypotheses that say that people who do not have a fever are those who over the years have quickly suppressed their fever with medication. In such people, fever disappears by inhibiting the synthesis of pyrogenic cytokines. This is how the immune system is compromised – added.
How will the COVID-19 epidemic affect immunity? Long-term effects
Prof. When asked about the long-term effects of the COVID-19 epidemic on human immunity, Wiesław Kozak indicated that we, as a society, will probably struggle with many problems in this area for many more years.
– There is a discussion about this in the scientific community. The immune system reacts to the appearance of the coronavirus in a very hysterical, unrestrained manner. Then the “job” of destroying other systems begins. It comes to the so-called cytokine storm, which is a very dangerous phenomenon. It should be mitigated with anti-cytokine antibodies. Cytokine analysis is very important for COVID-19, but it is a very expensive process. It is not as cheap as antiviral antibody analysis. This study would quickly determine if there is a cytokine storm and mitigate its effects. And we have a whole host of different compounds that can be used. (…) After undergoing COVID-19, some systems regenerate very quickly, and there are systems such as the nervous system that renew very slowly – he emphasized.
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In his opinion, already due to the COVID-19 epidemic, we are a disadvantaged society, because many people have died of this disease, and many are and will be mentally damaged.
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– The mental sphere is of great importance for our immune system. The conversation between the brain and the immune system continues. The patient’s mental attitude is extremely important for the process of fighting the disease, but also for counteracting its progress, the expert added.
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The professor appeals: let’s not be afraid of mRNA vaccines
The scientist admits that he understands many people and their anxiety about vaccination against COVID-19, but with all his authority he would like to appeal not to be afraid of mRNA vaccines.
- Types of COVID-19 Vaccines. How is vector different from mRNA vaccine? [WE EXPLAIN]
– I understand that people are afraid of novelties, of what is only just entering into circulation, to medicine. MRNA vaccines do not affect the condition of the immune system. Let us not be afraid of this, because such a process does not take place. She doesn’t change our genes. Its task is to train our immune system to create antibodies. Then, when they “meet” the pathogen, they become active and in a way deactivate the uninvited guest, which in this case is the virus. Vaccines are one of the most momentous and key achievements of medicine, the expert explained.
PAP / Tomasz Więcławski
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