Stress has subtle, underlying effects on almost every part of the body, including the heart, gut and immune system.
Bats are the only mammals capable of true flight. Scientists believe flight may influence their immune responses to coronoviruses, which cause fatal diseases such as SARS and MERS in humans.
(Shutterstock)
Scientific studies show that bats may carry “coronoviruses” causing SARS and MERS - without showing symptoms of disease. Could the bat immune system be key to human survival in future pandemics?
Allergies may be in the genes that are passed down from parents to children.
Flickr/U.S. Department of Agriculture
Younus, age 9, wants to know how people become allergic to food.
A recent study of medical students and residents found they were reluctant to engage with parents who have vaccination fears. But listening to parents is important.
Olena Yakobchuck/Shutterstock.com
A recent study suggests that shunning parents who are reluctant to vaccinate their kids isn’t the best strategy. A better strategy might be old-fashioned, but it works.
Parents are concerned combination vaccines, which protect against several diseases at once, can be too much for a young immune system to cope with.
from www.shutterstock.com
Vaccines against multiple diseases in one jab strengthen kids’ immune systems, not weaken them. Here’s why we shouldn’t fear these combination vaccines.
Women’s immune systems mount a significantly stronger response against invaders.
wavebreakmedia/Shutterstock
Gabrielle Belz, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research) y Cyril Seillet, WEHI (Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research)
Women have evolved to have stronger immunity than men. But this comes with downsides -
women are more likely to have autoimmune diseases due to their “reactive” immune systems.
A virus like SARS can shut down cytokine production, enabling it to multiply to higher levels and causing significant infection and even death.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Kevin Frayer)
We’ve all endured infections. Here’s how it works when our bodies are attacked by viruses, bacteria or parasites, and our innate immune system becomes the first line of defence.
Many suffer from heart disease despite the fact they don’t smoke, have healthy diets, and are of a healthy weight.
Tim Marshall/Unsplash
This antivirus software protects health, not computers. Researchers are beginning to combat deadly infections using computer-generated antiviral proteins – a valuable tool to fight a future pandemic.
Even regular walking can drastically change your health.
Zetar Infinity/Shutterstock
The facial tumour cells that threaten the Tasmanian devils may use a sort of molecular shield to protect them from the animal’s immune system.
HIV plays hide and seek with the body’s immune system to evade detection. But we can learn from its tactics to make a range of vaccines against infectious diseases.
from www.shutterstock.com
In pregnancy, immune cells help the uterus tolerate and nurture the embryo despite it carrying foreign genes from the father. In most women, suppressing immunity will likely cause more harm than good.
Director, Children’s Health and Environment Program and World Health Organization Collaborating Centre for Children’s Health and Environment, The University of Queensland