Immunity system complexity: a short summary (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, April 16, 2020, 01:08 (1471 days ago) @ David Turell

Skimming through a review of our troops:

https://evolutionnews.org/2020/04/physicians-diary-our-remarkable-healing-processes-and...

"Normally, billions of white cells, including complex B and T lymphocytes, neutrophils, macrophages, dendritic cells, and plasma cells, stand guard throughout the body. They are like sentinels with a whole host of weapons in hand. When confronted by a foreign intruder, they quickly determine if this new protein, DNA or RNA particle, bacteria, fungus, virus, or a changed cell (cancer) is a friend or foe. If they deem it worrisome, they immediately punch holes in it with tiny grenades called “complement” and tear it apart, figuratively limb-by-limb. Select pieces are sent back to the rear-lines (lymph nodes) for analysis.

"The analysis leads to manufacturing antibodies, often Y-shaped chemicals to capture all or part of the intruder in the wedge of the Y. Antibodies will often attach to invaders at specific locations along their outer shell. Think of a submicroscopic porcupine rolled into a ball. If the virus foreigner were covered with triangular spikes, the antibodies might have “catcher’s mitts” with triangular-shaped pouches. Electrical charges and specific chemical bonds also play a role.

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"Newly manufactured, shorter-lived antibodies are the first on the scene. Days to weeks later, smaller, often lifelong, antibodies begin arriving. They may also become part of your permanent immunity.

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"If there is an overwhelming army of invaders, the sentinels will send for emergency reinforcements. White cells, like the cavalry, rapidly arrive by the millions. They travel through lymph channels, race from other organs, and squeeze in and out of blood vessels. Pus is often the result of these battles. This material is composed of millions of dead invaders and white cells, various bodily fluids, and all sorts of spent biological weapons, tools, and chemicals. Recall teenage pimples or any abscess; the fight is concluded when the body moves these pus pockets to the skin surface for drainage.

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"Millions of different foreign proteins enter our body every day through breaks in the skin, our gums and gut while eating, our nose and lungs while inhaling, and even through portals in the eyes from another person’s sneeze or cough. Most intruders are benign. Many others are non-life threatening irritants, as with allergies, which prompt a slightly different response. The deadly invasions, of course, must be confronted immediately.

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"Vaccines prompt the body to make antibodies by mimicking aspects of the virus, but the trick is creating the right antibodies. Sometimes, the created antibodies get in the way. Hyperimmune globulin (IGG, consisting of antibodies collected from donors) was used during the polio epidemic in the 1950s; it was given to patients with the worst cases, with paralysis, and many improved."

Comment: A fantastic system, designed for great protection. Yes, designed, not by chance. The author is wrong about how IGG was used. I was one of several senior medical students in the summer before school started up again, who worked for the N.Y. State Health Department and gave hundreds of well kids the IGG by injections in the butt. Hard to do. My hand was sore each day from pushing ice cold thick liquid into the kids. They did n't enjoy it either, but it broke the epidemic in the areas we visited over weekends, being bused from our regular jobs in Syracuse, N.Y.