Talk to me about the Immune System ...

[NotQuiteCockney]

I've read that it takes 7 days or whatever to clear a cold, because it takes a few days for your body to develop specific tailored antibodies for the cold. Once you've got those antibodies, the virus goes pretty fast (via impressive yellow snot).

So ... the stuff that your body does to pass the time while it develops the antibodies, the runny nose, the fevers etc etc, are those all (pointless) attempts to get rid of the virus? Are the annoying symptoms of colds and 'flus caused by the virus, or by your body's bad defence attempts? And if the latter, wouldn't we all be better off with weaker immune systems, that just ignored these viruses?

Well, with weaker immune systems and no anti-bodies, the common cold would turn into all kinds of nasty and potentially deadly things like pneumonia. That's why people on immunosuppressant drugs after transplants, or whose immune systems are weak because of other diseases, have to be really careful, and can really die from something like a cold.

Oh, I realise we need the antibodies, but the immune system stuff before the good antibodies are made just seems like a waste of time.

I think the temp and stuff can be caused by the chemical process of producing the antibodies etc ie interferons and stuff!! tcells and Bcells in the immmune system dtect and respond to pathogens.

The detection of the virus by Tcells stimulates the release of something which "calls" the different Tcells to the virusa to attact it, and then Bcells come too and make the antibodies.

SHould be able to understand more haing a Biomedicl science degree - but spent too much time playing at uni and after I graduated, so now I know nothing!

health.howstuffworks.com/virus-human1.htm

This will tell you all you need to know about the cold virus and how they work.

OK, I am not posting.

But I can't resist this one.

THink of the lines of defence like the lines in an army.

the first line of defense is stopping the stuff getting in , in the first place.....so your skin and snot, and tears and stuff. If the stuff does get in, there is the non-specific attack forces that stop the virus from running wild, while the specific stuff is developed. Sometimes the non specific stuff does its thing, and you kill off the bacteria/virus before it gets to give you symptoms....we do this all day every day. but sometimes the non-specific stuff isn't good enough, and then the clever stuff comes into play.

And the super clever thing is that the body remembers the infection, and next time it sees it the specific stuff comes on line PDQ.

Basically you send in the SAS after the 'ordinary' army can't do the job.....but loads of times the army is enough. You need them all

Good site, Attila. The adverts are scaring the bejeezus out of me, though ... home HIV testing?? Home defib??!?

Ah, so the non-specific stuff does do something. I hadn't realised that it must succeed loads of times for every time it fails.

estimates are that we meet over 2000 infective agents a day.

The immune system is very good!

mb - I do like your sciency explanations. Why can't all teachers be like you...

Also a fever stops the bugs growing as fast so that when the body can get round to properly attacking there aren't as many bugs for them to deal with IYSWIM.