Influenza is a serious disease that can lead to hospitalization and sometimes even death. Every flu season is different, and influenza infection can affect people differently, but millions of people get the flu every year, hundreds of thousands of people are hospitalized, and thousands or tens of thousands of people die from flu-related causes every […]
Vaccines induce memory responses that allow the generation of rapid and heightened immunity—once exposure to the corresponding infectious microbe occur. How do vaccines induce memory responses? They do so by tricking the immune system into thinking it is experiencing an infection caused by the corresponding live microbe. Vaccines consist of either live (attenuated) or killed microbes, […]
Immune system cells are able to extrude stringy DNA webs as weapons to fight invading microbes. Neutrophils, the most abundant type of white blood cells, use the so-called extracellular traps—a meshwork of DNA, histones, and antimicrobial proteins derived from the neutrophils’ granules—to immobilize and kill bacteria and fungi. This process results also in the death […]
Natural Killer (NK) cells are lymphocytes that were first noticed for their ability to kill cancer cells without any priming by antigen presenting cells and in absence of prior activation—for this reason, they were dubbed “natural”. They derive from a common progenitor shared with B and T cells. However, NK cells are classified as group […]
Leprosy—also known as Hansen’s disease—is a chronic infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium leprae (and, less commonly, Mycobacterium lepromatosis) that results in severe, disfiguring skin sores and peripheral nerve damage in the arms, legs, and skin areas around the body. It’s most prevalent in the developing world, where living conditions are poor and people struggle to access sufficient […]
The cigarettes known by many different names—e-cigarettes, e-cigs, e-hookahs, mods, vape pens, apes, tank systems, electronic nicotine delivery systems (ENDS) and more—may cause harm by suppressing the immune system, as indicated by recent research. Last year, a study published in the American Journal of Physiology suggested that inhaling the vaporized flavored liquids in e-cigarettes is […]
The immunology of pregnancy is complex and, for many years, has been viewed according to “classical” concepts similar to those at the basis of organ transplantation. One of the classical concepts is that pregnancy is associated with immune suppression, or “immunological weakness” so to avoid rejection of the fetus—which is seen as a foreign entity. […]
Peripheral nerve injuries may have devastating consequences—the extent of these consequences is determined by the amount of cellular damage, the site of the lesion, the degree of disruption of the connective-tissue sheaths that surround the nerve, the extent of associated injuries (especially vascular injuries) and the age and health of the patient. In the peripheral […]
On November 21, 2016, thousands of people were struggling for breath in Melbourne, Australia. They overwhelmed ambulance services and hospital emergency departments, formed long lines around pharmacies, and were helped by firefighters and police officers when paramedics became overloaded. The episode resulted in hundreds of hospitalizations and multiple deaths. The cause? Thunderstorm asthma—severe asthma attacks were […]
Global climate change noticeably impacts human health—safe drinking water, sufficient food, and secure shelter are threatened by rising sea levels and severe weather events. Heat waves dramatically increase death rates not only from heat strokes, but also from complications arising from cardiovascular, respiratory, and cerebrovascular diseases. Although global warming may bring some localized benefits, such […]