The Human Immune System Functions

The immune system plays a vital role in helping the body to fight diseases, as well as pathogens, the disease-causing factors. It is mainly composed of the tonsils and adenoids, the lymph nodes and lymphatic vessels, the spleen, appendix, and bone marrow. The main purpose of the immune system is to assist the body in its struggle to maintain optimal health.

The main function of the immune system is to protect the body from infectious agents such as viruses and other toxins. The immune system can fail us in two ways-either by becoming under-vigilant, letting infections enter the body, or over-vigilant, so that it is the immune system itself, rather than an infectious agent that causes illness.

Measles, mumps, and rubella. Viruses that have become so rare most nobody knows the dangers and symptoms. But since the preventative measure of vaccinations have been used less and less in Ashland Oregon, these outbreaks are predicted to occur. Cluster of Ashland, Oregon parents have created a dangerous community brewing with diseases ready to erupt by choosing to opt-out of vaccinating their children. Misinformation circulating the Internet activated an anti-vaccination cluster that could be reversed with legitimate evidence of risks and benefits of immunizing kids,

In healthcare, we are seeing an influx of children with diseases that were once eradicated by vaccinations. It does not help that in recent years many public figures, be it actors or politicians, have begun speaking out about the effects vaccinations potentially have on children. Whether they have done the proper research or not, their fame and notoriety brings about attention that most would not. So, what does the increase in non-vaccinated children mean to the rest of those that accepted the vaccinations. A closer look at immunizations for adults and children, the herd immunity that is in jeopardy, and the culture and reasoning of the anti-vaccination group may shed some light on the culture of anti-vaccination.

On the pro-vaccination site entitled, Why Vaccinate, they detail a situation that is a true story depicting a breakout of measles in Minnesota. In 2011, an unvaccinated toddler traveled to Kenya for a family vacation. Upon their arrival home the child now, unknowingly infected with the measles virus, not only infects another adult family member, but also attends a day care shortly after returning home. One day after attending the day care the child broke out into a rash and had unknowingly infected 3 more children at her daycare, these children went home and 2 more adults became infected. The adult family member that was infected spread the virus to 2 emergency medical professionals; the medical professionals would respond to a call at a homeless shelter later and infect 4 of its member. Three more cases would pop up in the area with uncertainty of how they contracted the virus. It only took one child to infect 23 people and put 14 children in the hospital, this could have all been avoided had the child been given the proper vaccination (Pastuer, 2013).

Many children in the USA remain unvaccinated and that could put a large number of people at risk. Throughout history, communicable diseases have proven to be a scourge on society, claiming millions of lives, especially the most vulnerable of humanity….

The organs that make up the lymphatic and immune system are the tonsils, spleen, thymus gland, lymph nodes, and lymphatic vessels. White blood cells (leukocytes), red blood cells (erythrocytes), plasma, and platelets (thrombocytes) make up the blood. Lymphocytes are leukocytes (white blood cells) that help the body fight off diseases. Two types of lymphocytes are B cells and T cells. Lymphocytes recognize antigens, or foreign substances/matter, in the body. Lymphocytes are a classification of agranulocytes, or cells (-cytes) without (a-) granules (granul/o) in the cytoplasm. B cells are created from stem cells, which are located in the bone marrow. B cells respond to antigens by becoming plasma cells. These plasma cells then create antibodies. Memory B cells produce a stronger response with the next exposure to the antigen. B cells fight off infection and bacteria while T cells defend against viruses and cancer cells. A hormone created by the thymus gland called thymosin changes lymphocytes into T cells. The thymus gland is active when you are a child and slowly shrinks, as you get older. T cells bind to the antigens on the cells and directly attack them. T cells secrete lymphokines that increase T cell production and directly kill cells with antigens. There are three types of T cells: cytotoxic T cells, helper T cells, and memory T cells.

In recent years, there has been a growing number of parents who refuse to get their children vaccinated. It appears this refusal to vaccinate stems from a fear over the safety of vaccines, and the effect that they will have on their child. This fear is perpetuated by opinion, false studies, and conspiracy, spread by bias media outlets as well as scientists who are incentivized to fabricate this misinformation. Unfortunately, this has led to pocketed outbreaks of diseases such as whooping cough and measles. These diseases were previously a thing of the past, that is, until recently. These outbreaks have led to the tragic, and untimely deaths of several children, and has put many other children at risk. Pediatrician, Matthew Daley, and epidemiologist,

However, we must understand that only one disease - smallpox – has been completely erased from this planet. “From around the world in 2011 there was around 350,000 cases of measles, with outbreaks in the Pacific, Asia, Africa, and Europe." With this ever-growing sense of safety, small groups of anti-vaccine have begun to sprout and even our very own president has refused vaccines. Even though it may seem as though we are safe from the vaccine-preventable diseases, if we become too vulnerable due to no vaccinations there is a chance that a case that will start an outbreak of some disease that is now under control is just a plane ride

In fact, life-threatening diseases still exist. There have been outbreak cases in the past two years which started in an unvaccinated community, demonstrating it is highly important to vaccinate and that disease is still around. In 2013, the United States experienced eleven outbreaks with twenty or more cases. In 2014, the United States experienced twenty-three measles outbreaks, including 383 cases, which by the way occurred among the unvaccinated community of Amish people in Ohio (Measles). In 2015, again the US experienced one of its largest measles outbreak which started at Disneyland (Measles). The outbreak started through a traveler which then spread it to surrounding people (Measles). A majority of these people who caught the disease were unvaccinated and had no immunity built to defend off the virus. Diseases, such as the measles, has not yet been eradicated and still persists in countries around the world. People who travel abroad bring the disease back and put unvaccinated people in danger. Disease still exists and in order to prevent from catching anything, a person must be

When children who have been vaccinated do contract a disease, despite being vaccinated against it, they usually have milder symptoms with less serious complications than an un-vaccinated child that gets the same disease. It is true that some children who receive vaccinations may still become ill when exposed to other disease-ridden children. Research shows that 70-90% of the entire population must be vaccinated to attain “herd immunity”, “the resistance of a group to attack by a disease to which a large proportion of the members are immune.” (Farlex, 2012) When herd immunity is accomplished the spread of the disease can be averted throughout. If all parents were to take proper responsibilities and keep their children’s immunizations up-to-date, herd immunity would be achieved against all 16 of the major life threatening diseases.

Vaccinations are used by introducing a minute portion of a certain disease to the body, forcing the creation of antibodies that will fight the same foreign antigen at a later time if the person is ever re-exposed (Loeffler, Hart, p.398). Pursuing the idea that we have the ability to eradicate certain diseases on a global level has been the dream of researchers in the field of vaccination development for years. This idea is intriguing to the entire population, although it has only ever been accomplished in the case of smallpox. Due to the obstacles standing in the way of researchers, this may never happen again. Many parents have recently shown concern in regards to vaccinating their children, mainly based on the belief that vaccinations can

Now, many once-forgotten diseases are reappearing. TIME Magazine reported that “In 2014, the U.S. experienced a major outbreak of measles that totaled 383 cases and was primarily spreading among an unvaccinated Amish community in Ohio.” (Measles Outbreak) The number of cases of these diseases is going up when it can be easily prevented. Worldwide, “Measles is one of the leading causes of death among young children even though a safe and cost-effective vaccine is available.” (World Health

There are two categories in which patients may fall into when developing active tuberculosis: those who have previously developed TB disease and a weakened immune system. Categories in which a person may have previously developed TB are those who had close contact with an infected patient; a foreign-born patient who lived in an area where TB was prevalent; and groups that are susceptible to exposure to TB are the homeless, prison inmates, drug users, and HIV-infected individuals. The following are risk factors that are associated with a weakened immune system: HIV infection, substance abuse, immunosuppressive therapy, children under the age of 5, low body weight, and diabetes mellitus (CDC, 2012). Developing TB disease is dependent upon the

Zinc is the 24th most abundant element in the earth’s crust, it is a metallic chemical element which has “exceptional biological importance” (Bonaventura et al., 2015). Zn is involved in numerous aspects of cellular metabolism such as: protein synthesis, cellular respiration, wound healing, DNA synthesis, cell division, and immune function (Bonaventura et al., 2015). For as many essential functions Zn is necessary for it also has the potential to interact with at least as many biological functions to induce adverse effects (Maret and Sandstead, 2006). For these reasons Zn deficiency and toxicity is linked to a number of diseases and particularly immune diseases affecting both the innate and adaptive immune systems (Bonaventura et al., 2015, Maares and Haase, 2016).Therefore, a disruption in Zn homeostasis can lead to compromised host defense and an increased risk of excessive inflammation (Maares and Haase, 2016).