A Introduction To The Immune System, Your Bodily Defenses
Dr. Christine Foutch is a holistic physician practicing in Rock Island, IL. The practice of holistic medicine integrates conventional and alternative therapies to prevent disease, treat disease, and most importantly promote optimal health.
For educational purposes
Resource
Microbiology-3rd-Edition
Diseases By Body System
Anatomy and Physiology Textbook 6th Edition
Every day, we come into contact with pathogens that can cause disease.
- Bacteria
- Viruses
- Fungi
- Protozoa
- Parasitic worms
All that can make contact with the human body through the air that we breath, the water that we drink, the food that we eat, and of course the people that we come into contact with, and as we all know our body must defend us against these potential invaders.
Because the cells and the basic physiological processes of humans are incompatible with those of plants and animal pathogens, humans have what is called species resistance. In many cases, the chemical receptors required for pathogen attachment do not exist in the human body, or the PH or temperature of the human body is incompatible with the conditions suitable for the pathogen to survive.
Nevertheless, every second of every day, armies of hostile microbes swarm our skin, and yet we are able to stay amazingly healthy most of the time.
Our bodies have evolved a single-minded approach to such foes, meaning "If your not with us, you are most definitely against us." To implement that stance against the foe, our body relies heavily on two defense systems that act both independently and cooperatively to provide the resistance to disease, or what we call immunity.
The Innate (nonspecific) defense system is always prepared, responding within minutes to protect the body from any foreign substance. This system has two barricades. The very first is the intact skin and the mucous membranes, and if breached, the internal defenses are called into action which include the anti-microbial proteins, phagocytes, and other cells such as Basophils Mast cells which are involved in calling into action the adaptive immune system through the process of Chemotaxis, which is a chemical gradient to be followed that leads right to any damaged cells.
The Adaptive (specific) defense system functions as a elite fighting force fully equipped to handle the job with the ability to recognize and remember the invading enemy. However, the response of the Adaptive immunity does take longer, especially with the first invasion of the pathogen as the Adaptive immune system has not yet come into contact with the invading microbe/foreign substances. Once the Adaptive Immune System knows who the invaders are, they are much quicker the next time around with their search-to-destroy strategy, as they have the ability to remember, thanks to the production of Memory-B-Cells.
Christine Foutch is a practicing Holistic Physician in Rock Island, Illinois. Holistic medicine is the art and science of healing that addresses the whole person – body, mind, and spirit. The practice of holistic medicine integrates conventional and alternative therapies to prevent and treat disease, and most importantly, to promote optimal health.
Holistic physicians expend as much effort in establishing what kind of patient has a disease as they do in establishing what kind of disease a patient has, In this way, if people have imbalances (physical, emotional, or spiritual) in their lives, it can negatively affect their overall health.
