The Immune System

The Immune System

Our immune system is our biological defense from foreign invaders. Only recently have the components of the immune system been discovered and there is still more to be found. One of the first discoveries of the immune system was made by Edward Jenner, an English physician. Jenner used smallpox to make his discovery. He noted that dairy workers who had cowpox, a disease that is contracted from milking infected cows, became resistant to this disease. Knowing this, Jenner injected a young boy with cowpox. After recovering from cowpox Jenner injected him with the disease again, but this time the boy was immune. After publishing his results and other cases in 1798, his results spread rapidly.

Our bodies only defense from foreign invaders in our immune system. The immune system is extraordinarily complex. "The immune system is a complex network of cells, tissues and organs that function cooperatively to protect the body from invasion by bacteria, viruses, parasites, fungi, toxins and tumor cells." (Culvert 1021) When the immune system is healthy and does its job that it is designed to do it destroys the foreign invaders that enter our body. This is one of the most important body systems, because there are so many things in the world that can make us sick. The body is under constant attack from bacteria, viruses, and other infection-causing parasites and pathogens. There is a slim chance of survival without a proper functioning immune system. Neil Schlager explains what steps are needed for the immune system to work properly "….two things must happen: first, the body must recognize that it has been invaded, either by pathogens or toxins or by some other outside threat. Second, the immune response must be activated quickly, before the invaders destroy many body tissue cells. For the immune system to respond effectively, several conditions must be in place, including the proper interaction of non-specific and specific defenses. The nonspecific defenses on the skin do not identify the antigen (a substance capable of stimulating an immune response or reaction) that is attacking or potentially attacking the body; instead, these defenses simply react to the presence of what it identifies as something foreign. Often, the nonspecific defenses effectively destroy microorganisms, but if these defenses prove ineffective and the microorganisms manage to infect tissues, the specific defenses go into action. The specific defenses function by detecting the antigen in question and mounting a response that targets it for destruction." (Schlager 262)

The organs of the immune system include the lymph nodes, lymphatic vessels, tonsils, thymus, Peyer's patch, and spleen. Each of these organs is responsible for producing cells that participate in the immune system or serve as a site for immune function. The tonsils, located at the back of the throat and under the

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