Immune System Flashcards
What is the immune system designed to do?
To help protect the human body from pathogens and foreign objects
What happens when you die?
Your immune systems shuts down and stops working
What are two side effects of the immune response?
Inflammation and pus
Name two secretions from the digestive system that fight invaders.
Saliva and stomach acid
What are allergies?
The immune system overreating to certain stimuli.
Name one way that the immune system stops us from doing something beneficial.
The immune system often rejects transplanted organs
Name 3 sicknesses caused by a “germ”
Cold, genetic disease, and organ degradation
What 3 ways does your immune system protect you?
Makes a barrier, tries to detect and destroy, and destroys the bacteria
Which part of the immune system can you see? Why is it important to the immune system?
The skin is import because it is the primary boundary between germs and body
What are 3 secretions that help to stop germs that enter your body through your eyes, nose, and mouth?
Tears, mucus, and saliva
What are antibodies?
They are Y-shaped proteins
How many types of white blood cells do you have working for you?
16 white blood cells
How do vaccines work?
When you inject a small amount of the virus
Why can’t we make a vaccine for the common cold?
It mutates to quickly
What are 3 mistakes that the immune system can make? Give a brief description of each.
- It may attack your own body as if it were the enemy, eg. insulin dependent diabetes (the type that most often starts in children and young people) is caused by the immune system attacking the cells in the pancreas that make insulin.
- Allergies are caused by the immune system over-reacting to something that is not really a threat, like when pollen triggers hay fever or asthma.
- If tissue is transplanted from one person to another - eg. a skin or organ transplant - then the immune system will attack the new part. The immune system has to be suppressed by drugs to allow the transplant to work.
