5 Effective Ways to Boost Your Immunity

1. Reduce stress in your life
Stress may have positive effects as it is a kind of training before real run, however excess of stress has negative effects and does great damage to your body. Health experts claim that stress decreases immunity and this makes body vulnerable to diseases. Learn to relax and occupy yourself with things you really like. This would have positive effects on your nervous system.

2. Enjoy regular sex
Remember that sex not only relaxes your body and gives pleasure, it also boosts your immunity. Studies showed that regular sexlife (ideally, with permanent partner) is a key to strong health. Latest study examined the connection between health of middle-aged people and sexual activity. Researchers came to the conclusion that people who lead regular sexlife have significantly better health condition than those who make sex rarely.

3. Smile more, laugh more
Researchers tried to find a connection between body protective functions and laugh. It turned out that those who truly laughed during watching cartoons showed immune functions increase.

4. Lead an active life
Regular exercises and generally physical activity do greatly train heart and persistence, they help to increase protective functions of the body and immunity. Spend 15 minutes each day for making exercises. Ideally, spend one hour three times a week.

5. Take up a family pet
Dog is called man's friend for a reason. Among with other pets dog brings a man joy and does not let him seat at one place but instead to move, thus helping to improve human health. It was proved that in these people blood pressure and cholesterol levels get normalized, heart health and vessels health get improved.

Treatment And Prevention Of Virus Infections

It is necessary to create conditions in which fighting between virus and child ends up with child's victory. These conditions include regimen, diet and special medications.

Treatment:
1. Fighting with concrete disease symptoms. For example, treatment of eruptions on skin or cough attenuation, or particular nose drops, or action on high body temperature.
2. Improvement of functioning and lowering of natural loads on cells damaged by virus. For example, anti-inflammatory remedies or medications improving work of liver cells, or medications that activate blood supply of brain cells.

Significant complications and significant limitations that appear when choosing treatment methods of virus infections do define the fact that it is necessary to pay spacial attention on preventive measures.

How to prevent virus infections?
1. Vaccination. Injecting in the body of weakened virus leads to production of antibodies protecting from a particular virus infection (measles, rubella, poliomyelitis, hepatitis B, influenza, tick-borne encephalitis).
2. Avoiding contacts with potential source of infection. At home patient with influenza should be isolated from other members of his family. Selective sexlife to prevent AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases.
3. Healthy lifestyle helps to formation of a normal immune system.

What Happens When a Virus Enters Your Body

When virus enters human body it starts to fight against the virus, at the beginning at level of non-specific immunity then do appear antibodies. Antibodies do neutralize virus and the disease finishes.

However, it is not so easy as it looks at the first sight. In some cases during the time necessary for antibodies production the virus manages to cause many destructions in the body which leads to severe complications. Sometimes virus enters the human body, infects particular cells and stops his existence. It means that virus is in the body and it really is found in particular cells but this causes no disease – virus does not multiply, it stays in the cell waiting until the immunity weakens.

If virus is able to actively multiply it quickly leads to death and destruction of cell he captured. From destroyed cell they get into blood where antibodies are waiting for them. Thus it happens that active viruses cause acute contagious diseases (rubella, measles, mumps) which last all the time that body needs for antibodies production.

Terms for antibodies production are absolutely determined and as a rule it is 5 – 10 days, therefore it always may be said how long a man will be diseased with measles and when the rash would disappear. The doctor always knows after how many days a patient diseased with rubella would feel better. So if influenza lasts three weeks it means that it is not influenza.

The fact that viruses are found in cells of human body determines major complications in treatment of any viral infection. It is very difficult to destroy virus and leave the cell alive. Not surprisingly, there are few antiviral medications and all of them them are quite specific – it means they act against a particular virus (for example, Tamiflu acts against viruses of group A) or group of viruses (Acyclovir -  against all herpes viruses). It is clear that main principle of viral infections treatment is to help body to fight the virus.

Each Viral Infection Has Its Specific Symptoms

Some time ago one of most terrible diseases was considered natural smallpox, virus of which may live only in human body. During two decades in the world there were registered no cases of infecting human with natural smallpox, it means that the virus causing the disease ceased to exist in wild life. This occurred due to compulsory vaccination against smallpox in past.

Before 1958 each year in the world the diagnosis “smallpox” was made at average 250,000 times. In 1958 the WHO started the campaign of total smallpox liquidation. In 1980 was declared that the Earth is free of natural smallpox.

Each cell in the body performs a number of specific individual functions. After infecting with virus sooner or later do appear problems. Virus damages liver cells – this causes yellow disease and other signs of liver failure. Virus damages mucosa of bronchi – this causes cough, rhonchi in lungs and hurried breathing.

Virus enters cells of the brain – do appear disorder of consciousness, cramps, paralysis. Selectivity of viruses leads to the fact that each viral infection has its specific symptoms and the symptoms will be determined by inability of group of cells damaged by viruses to perform their functions.

Severity of viral infection depends on what cells and how many of them are damaged. It is clear that damage of brain leads to more serious illness than damage of cells of nasal mucosa.

Every cell in human body changes in a certain way during its growth and development. It means that liver cell of a child is not the same as liver cell of an adult. In a child hepatic cell is not maturated yet and hepatitis A virus can hardly multiply in these immature cells, therefore one-year-child never gets diseased with hepatitis A, in older children the disease courses mildly, in teenagers severely than in children, in adults it courses severe.

Childhood infection (rubeola, chickenpox) do course severe in adults. The severity of disease is determined by the condition of a particular cell. For example, hepatic cell of a drunker is weaker than in a non-drunker.

The Variety Of Viruses

 Virus may be seen only with the help of electronic microscope. The vast majority of doctors meet viruses and electronic microscopes only on images in clever medical books. Diseases caused by viruses  have so specific symptoms that it makes no use of  electronic microscope and images because everything is clear.

The essential and most significant biological peculiarity of any virus is that it is unable to multiply without cells of other organisms. Virus enters a particular cell and this infected cell transforms into a factory of virus production.

It is clear that cell cannot work for both virus and body and thus it cannot perform its major function and here appear absolutely specific symptoms of the disease. Major feature of the virus is its selectivity. Virus cannot live in any cell, it needs a proper one which will work for it.

For example, infectious hepatitis virus may live and multiply only in liver cells. Epidemic parotitis virus (mumps) prefers cells of salivary gland, influenza virus – cells of mucous membrane of bronchi and tracheae, encephalitis virus – cells of cerebrum. Each virus may be associated with particular cells and tissues of human body which virus damages.

Virus selectivity is observed not only in damages of particular cells but also in the ability to cause particular diseases in particular biologic species. Measles virus may find necessary cells in human body and is not dangerous for a cat. Virus of hardpad is not dangerous for a human.

These are not common rules. Particular cells of different mammals are analogous with each other and some viruses cause one and the same disease in different animals, for example, rabies virus. The ability of some viruses to affect only particular biological species has a great significance.

Remedy Against Melanoma Found In Immunity

American scientists have developed a new method to treat melanoma which was successfully tested on mice.

What melanoma is
Melanoma is a cancerous growth on the skin that is developed from pigment cells containing melanin. Externally melanoma resembles a usual mole, however, there exist particular signs that help to define  cancerous growth. Unlike mole, cancerous growth is a non-symmetric formation with irregular edges and its diameter is more than 5mm. In some cases inoffensive mole which did not show itself for years  may turn into melanoma.

Signs that mole turns into melanoma:

• size increase
• color change
• reshaping
• itching
• ulceration
• bleeding

Major factor leading to melanoma development is action of ultraviolet irradiation.

What are the dangers of melanoma?
Major danger of melanoma is that even small tumors give metastasis into all organs and tissues of the body. The process of metastasis formation presents spreading of cancerous cells via lymphatic and blood vessels. When cancerous cells get into healthy organs and tissues they start multiplying which significantly aggravates treatment and the prognosis for treatment.

History of the research
Watching the mice which had no genes responding for production of special type of immune cells – T helper 17 cells., scientists found that in those mice melanoma was not developed. Thus appeared a hypothesis that blocking of signal path of T helper 17 cells would help to stop tumor growth. Besides this, scientists found that in mice bodies was presented a specific substance called interleukine that is formed under the action of other immune cells – T helper 9 cells.

Essence of the research
The research was performed on mice in which scientists modeled melanoma. As a treatment, scientists injected T helper 9 cells in mice. It turned out that immune therapy helps to slow down tumor growth. Besides this, scientists discovered that in a healthy man T helper 9 cells are found in blood and skin while in melanoma this type of immune system cells is absent or is found in small amounts.

Results of the research
Today is actively developed a new method of cancer treatment called immune therapy. Results of the latest study tell about success of usage drugs stimulating immune system in patients with melanoma. Scientists hope that data obtained will help to perform new studies to evaluate the role of T helper 9 cells in cancer treatment.

Bird Flu Just Three Mutations Away

Bird flu virus continues to mutate. If it would be able to transmit from human to human than humanity would face a new pandemic.

In spite of the fact that bird flu is the disease of birds, some viruses of bird flu may infect humans and cause severe infections that often end up with death.

Today bird flu virus is not transmitted from human to human. However, if the virus mutates, it may begin to transmit from human to human which may result in a pandemic.

Scientists claim that only several mutations do separate humans from a real pandemic.