Pathogens Vs Immunity

  

 A BUSY DAY IN THE DEPARTMENT OF IMMUNITY

Ever wondered why folks around you get sick and you always find yourself enjoying amidst all the chaos? OR why do you end up being among the first people to embrace a disease caused by bacteria or a virus? All of that is because of a system inside your body that is sometimes taken for granted. Yes, you guessed it right. The Immune System.  Let's start with a tribute to our most dedicated friends, the white blood cells. 

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What's In Here For You?

According to research, around 38 trillion bacteria and 380 trillion viruses live on and in a human's body.[1] Some of them are harmful while others are essential for your body. But how does a deadly virus like Thrax in the movie Osmosis Jones invade our bodies, hijack the immune system, replicate itself, and ultimately make the body seriously ill? Who are the stakeholders? What is the first line of defense? How do white blood cells fight? Who is vulnerable? This blog is going to cover all of that and take a look at how does a busy day in the immune system looks like.  

What Is The Immune System?

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Let's understand, to an extent, the immune system first. The immune system is your body's defense system. The workers of this system fight a huge number of bacteria and viruses daily to keep you healthy. The immune system gets stronger with practice and previously stored information about viruses and bacteria that have visited your body sometimes in the past. When your body is ill or a particular area is under attack, white blood cells act as the protagonists and rush to fight the invaders.[2] Remember the dedicated white blood cell, Osmosis Jones? Read this to learn amazing facts about the immune system.

When Do Things Get Serious?

Remember Thrax from Osmosis Jones and how it entered Frank's body and almost killed him? Well if you don't, we have got you covered. 

Infections are caused when a virus or a bacteria infects your body. In the movie Osmosis Jones, Frank eats up a dirty egg and invites Thrax, a deadly virus to his body. Thrax sticks to his plan and hijacks Frank's system by eliminating every possible danger on its way. 

Similar is the case in real life. When deadly viruses enter a body, they plan to hijack the immune system and aim to reproduce in order to take complete control of the body. Although the immune system strives for the body's health, due to a lack of information about the new criminal, it fails to launch a well-planned attack. If the immune system has sufficient information about the criminal, it goes on high alert and prepares an army to crush the invading pathogen. Now you know why health workers always insist on getting vaccinated?

Here is a link to an article that discusses how viruses enter the body and the immune system's response.

Some Unsung Heroes

Let's talk about some unsung heroes who without taking into account the profile of the enemy, fight for the sake of the body's health. Our immune system has three lines of defense. The first line of defense is led by your skin, mucous membrane, and their secretions. These act as physical barriers for the invaders. If a pathogen makes its way through the first line of defense, the second line of defense becomes active and aims to destroy the invaders through fever, inflammatory responses, and leukocytes (a type of white blood cell). The third or the specific defense is constituted by Lymphocytes, antibodies, and memory cells. With the help of memory cells, this line of defense deals with the pathogens that have already been encountered by the immune system previously. By retrieving information about these viruses the immune system prepares a better way to eliminate the pathogen. The immune system works in a way that cells like Macrophages are deployed to launch an attack on pathogens and destroy them, T cells and B cells are contacted to determine any similar pathogen invasion to prepare better. The roles of all of the cells involved are elaborated comprehensively in this video.

A Clever Virus

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Deadly viruses tend to hide and plan before launching an attack. This period is called the incubation period. In Osmosis Jones, Thrax plays a trick and causes a sore throat and runny nose when he arrives. This makes the white blood cell think that it is just a common cold. When the right time comes, he sequentially kills all the obstacles and takes control of Frank's body. Different viruses come with different intentions. Although Thrax claimed to be more dangerous than Ebola, it actually was not given that, unlike Thrax who plans to kill the body's defense members, Ebola hijacks the members of the immune system, makes them contagious, and uses them as vehicles to enter different regions of the body. 

When a new deadly virus enters the body, it succeeds by killing all the cells in the immune system that come in its way. Due to the lack of prior information, the immune system does not prepare well and fails to beat the virus. The virus then does what it needs to do. Some viruses like Thrax aim to kill the host quickly by raising the body temperature. A lack of white blood cells makes the body vulnerable to other diseases.

However, the immune system also plays the protagonist in many cases. There comes the concept of vaccination and how the immune system is prepared for the next time. Here is a link for readers who want to explore the concept of vaccination and how it prevents people from getting infected by deadly viruses. 

Some Pseudoscience

The movie, Osmosis Jones, however, is also a good resource to learn about some pseudoscience and myths. For instance, a white blood cell single-handedly takes on the task to kill a deadly virus and somehow succeeds. Another instance is when Thrax leaves Frank's body. Viruses are killed by the immune system they do not escape the body and obviously not the way shown in the movie. The pill Drix, joining Jones in the mission is also not accurate. Pills for sore throat and runny nose are task-specific. 

With that, let's plan to live a healthy life, eliminate all the risk factors, and give our dear immune system a little break it deserves.

References

• Pride, D. (2020) Viruses can help us as well as harm us, Scientific American. Scientific American. Available at: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/viruses-can-help-us-as-well-as-harm-us/ (Accessed: October 30, 2022).

• What are white blood cells? (no date) What Are White Blood Cells? - Health Encyclopedia - University of Rochester Medical Center. Available at: https://www.urmc.rochester.edu/encyclopedia/content.aspx?ContentID=35&ContentTypeID=160 (Accessed: October 30, 2022). 

• Department of Health & Human Services (1999) Immune system, Better Health Channel. Department of Health & Human Services. Available at: https://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/health/conditionsandtreatments/immune-system (Accessed: October 30, 2022).

•     (2018) YouTube. YouTube. Available at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSRJfaAYkW4 (Accessed: October 30, 2022).

• This is what happens when a virus enters the human body (2020) FIFARMA. Available at: https://fifarma.org/en/this-is-what-happens-when-a-virus-enters-the-human-body/ (Accessed: October 30, 2022).

• Understanding how vaccines work (2022) Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/hcp/conversations/understanding-vacc-work.html (Accessed: October 30, 2022)