Your Immune System 'Remembers' Microbes It's Never Fought Before, New Study Says

Your immune system may be precognitive, or maybe not. I don't know if I would phrase it quite the same way the article does; but what the heck, I will take all the help I can get for my immune system.

SOURCE

Immune cells are like the Hatfields and McCoys of our bodies--once wronged, they never, ever forget. This is how we gain immunity, and it’s why vaccines work: Immune cells develop a memory of an invading pathogen, and they build an alert system to find and fight it should it ever return. But a new study by Stanford researchers adds a new wrinkle to this long-held immune theory. It turns out immune cells can develop this memory-like state even for pathogens they’ve never met. This may come from exposure to harmless microbes -- or the memories may actually be borrowed from other, more experienced cells.

Decades ago, Davis discovered that CD4 cells reshuffle their DNA when they divide, which basically creates an army of T cells that have very specific pathogen-recognizing abilities. According to this new paper, this ability might also help them recognize pathogens they haven't even seen yet.

Yum, Mud: There may be an evolutionary reason why kids are inclined to eat dirt.

So maybe drop that Purell habit and don’t worry about the billions of bugs, most of which aren’t harmful, that surround us all the time. They might be giving our immune systems a head start.

reply to post by happykat39


thats how I heard they invented the first vaccine, by using cow pox a disease that has symptoms like small pox but only affects cows, they found that when given to a human they would gain immunity to small pox

Originally posted by grey9438
reply to post by happykat39

 

thats how I heard they invented the first vaccine, by using cow pox a disease that has symptoms like small pox but only affects cows, they found that when given to a human they would gain immunity to small pox

That's right, and the reason they even knew to try it was because milk maids who came down with cow pox, which is a very mild disease, never got small pox.

reply to post by happykat39


Good catch. ...Also turns out that vaccines only fight the specific strain they're designed to fight - but getting infected with a real flu makes you immune to a whole lot more. All very interesting.

Our bodies are much smarter than we are..
it tells us what we need when we need it.. just have to learn to listen.

Originally posted by soficrow
reply to post by happykat39

 

Good catch.

...Also turns out that vaccines only fight the specific strain they're designed to fight - but getting infected with a real flu makes you immune to a whole lot more. All very interesting.

Yep, and thats why i will never get a flu shot. Hell i havent had the flu for about 31/2 to 4 yrs now.