• Question: how does your body know when you have the sickness bug

    Asked by to Andrei, Ekbal, Gemma, Helen, Ruth on 16 Jun 2014. This question was also asked by .
    • Photo: Ruth Nottingham

      Ruth Nottingham answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Hi
      Another good question, our bodies have a very complicated defence system called our immune system. The cells in our immune system move around our body, sort of like policemen walking around the street looking for crime.
      So bacteria or viruses that make us ill are like aliens to our immune cells, as they can tell they are different.
      The immune cells then have lots of different ways to try and get rid of the bug.
      Some of the cells called phagocytes can eat the bad bacteria and then try to destroy it.
      There are other types of cell that kill human cells that have a virus or bacteria inside them.
      Also the immune system is very clever so for some infections it can remember how best to get rid of the bug, so they get rid of it faster than the first time- so you don’t have time to feel ill!

    • Photo: Gemma Marsden

      Gemma Marsden answered on 16 Jun 2014:

      Hi sinclair,
      I think Ruth has pretty much answered this one! Our immune system is programmed to recognise cells that belong to us and cells that don’t. So our immune cells will recognise bacteria or viruses most of the time.
      Some bacteria and viruses have developed ways to avoid our immune systems though – for instance the cold virus changes so often our immune system doesn’t recognise it!
      When we develop a fever it can be part of the immune response and sometimes it helps the immune system get rid of the invading microbes. We have to be careful to not let your core body temperature get to high though or this can make you ill too!

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