Congenital immunity: properties and principle of action, how to maintain

From immunity absolutely everything in a person's life depends. Nature took care of him and presented two most valuable gifts - innate and acquired immunity.

What

When a child is born, he already has a formed immunity system, which was inherited from mom and dad, and subsequently it continues to develop.

This is the ability to develop inflammation, that is, the body's ability to respond to infection, and not just prevent it.

A good example of a splinter in a finger is that the body responds with redness, inflammation, swelling, trying to expel a foreign object. It also happens with the body's response to all kinds of microbes - pain, temperature, weakness, lack of appetite.

If a child is often sick (according to the parents), this does not mean that he has poor innate immunity. On the contrary, in this way it trains the ability of the organism, which meets with microbes and pathogens, to defend itself. If the child goes to 2-3 years in kindergarten and starts to get sick, then you should not sound the alarm - this is also a training of the "defenders" of the body.

Congenital immunity remains the same as it was given at birth, no matter how often it collides with pathogenic microorganisms, but acquired on the contrary - from such collisions only is getting stronger.

When is formed

The first cells appear as early as 4 weeks of gestation. The eighth and ninth months of pregnancy are considered to be of fundamental importance. It is during this period that immunity completes its intrauterine development. Therefore, if the baby is premature, then he will have an increased tendency to develop infections. In fact, before 8th months, the first 50% of innate immunity is formed, and 8 and 9 months are the next 50%.

During pregnancy, the mother is the main protector of the baby; favorable sterile conditions for the baby are created in her womb. The placenta acts as a filter and delivers only nutrients and oxygen to the fetus. In this case, the mother's antibodies pass through the same placenta into the child's blood, and remain there for a period of 6 to 12 months (this explains why after a year, children get sick more often).

During childbirth, the child is already faced with an absolutely non-sterile external world, and here his immunity begins to work.

In order for the child's immunity to be full, the expectant mother must comply with:

• full sleep;
• good nutrition;
• take iron supplements.

And after birth, natural (breast) feeding of the child is mandatory.

Cells

The cellular "cocktail" of immunity includes:

• mononuclear phagocytes (monocytes, tissue macrophages);
• granulocytes;
• neutrophils;
• eosinophils;
• basophils (peripheral blood and tissue or mast cells);
• natural killer cells (EK cells);
• just killers (K-cells);
• lymphoinactivated killer cells (LAK cells).

It is difficult for a simple layman to understand these names, but if you deviate from the scientific explanation, then the main thing here is that each type of cell performs its role in the fight, together forming a single defense mechanism the individual.

Properties of innate immunity and how to stimulate its cells

The properties include the following points:

• High reaction rate - the system in a very short period of time recognizes a stranger who has entered the body, and begins to act on its removal in all possible ways.
• Existence is known in the body (and is not formed in response to the appearance of a "stranger" as in the case of the acquired).
• Participation in phagocytosis.
• Hereditary transmission.
• Lack of memory (that is, natural immunity does not remember microbes and bacteria with which it has already dealt, this role is assigned to acquired immunity).

Factors

The properties of innate immunity are supported by its factors, which include mechanical barriers - our skin, lymph nodes, mucous membranes, secretion, salivation, sputum and other "helpers" for the extermination of microbes from organism. This is also helped by physiological functions such as coughing, sneezing, vomiting, diarrhea, fever.

If we look at the example of leather, then it has been proven that it has a high degree of self-cleaning. So if you apply atypical bacteria to the skin, then after a while they will disappear.

Mucous membranes lose to the skin in the degree of protection, therefore, infections often begin to spread precisely from the mucous membranes.

In addition to the above, the body also begins chemical reactions aimed at protecting the body and eliminating foreign objects.

What is a child's immunodeficiency and how to determine its presence

As already described above, in intrauterine development, antibodies are transmitted from mother to child, which protect it in the future. Unfortunately, it happens that the natural process of transmission of antibodies can be interrupted or not fully performed, this can lead to immunodeficiency, that is, to impaired immunity.

What can affect the formation of innate immunity:

• radiation;
• exposure to chemical elements;
• pathogenic microbes in the womb.

According to statistics, immunodeficiency states are not so common, much more is said about them. Many parents are not ready for the child to suffer from colds, and in vain are trying to seek out "bad immunity" from him.

Meanwhile, international criteria voice how much a child with normal immunity should be sick: up to 10 times a year ARI. This is considered the norm. Especially if the child goes to kindergarten or school, and so to express his relationship with microorganisms, that is, inflammation and other manifestations of acute respiratory infections, this is an absolute norm.

It is not considered the norm if a child has 2 or more purulent infections per year (pneumonia, sinusitis, purulent otitis media). This is already a serious reason to go to an immunologist.

Today, immunodeficiency states are being successfully treated. Children are prescribed what they lack. The most common immunodeficiencies are violations of antibodies and, accordingly, replacement therapy with immunoglobulins is prescribed, which will allow you to live without infections and lead a normal life.

Increase in protective properties

There is no way to increase the innate immunity of a person who has already been born, this is the role of the mother during pregnancy. It is she who lays down what the immunity will be, and she can increase it only by eating right, resting, observing an active regimen, taking vitamins and preventing all kinds of infections.

After the birth of a child, it is correct to talk about strengthening the immune system as a whole.

In principle, it is never too late to start strengthening it, but, of course, it is better to teach a child to all these procedures from an early age:

• Physical activity.
• Balanced proper nutrition (meat and fish, vegetables and fruits, dairy products, nuts, cereals and legumes must be present in the diet).
• Favorable temperature regime (provided by clothing in accordance with weather conditions, do not dress too warmly) and humidity (to determine humidity, you can buy a penny hygrometer, if the humidity level is not high enough, this is often observed during the heating season, then you need to think about buying humidifier).
• Hardening (dousing, contrast shower).

I would also like to note that such bad habits as smoking and alcohol, as well as stress and constant lack of sleep, have a very detrimental effect on immunity.

Cell stimulants

The World Health Organization (WHO) is constantly conducting research to identify the causes of the increase in infectious and oncological diseases. The main reason, as it turned out, is a deficiency of killer cells.

Scientists have nevertheless developed special drugs aimed at stimulating the activity of K-cells:

• immunomodulators;
• fortifying substances;
• TB - transfer factor proteins.

Herbal medicines (echinacea, lemongrass tincture) are very often used as immunostimulants.

Transfer factor proteins are advanced cell stimulators, although they were discovered in 1948, but spread only recently, since at that time they could only be obtained from human blood. Now manufacturers of pharmaceuticals and dietary supplements obtain them from cows, goats and egg yolk colostrum. Chinese TB manufacturers have learned how to extract transfer proteins from the cells of fungi and mountain ants.

The transfer proteins are planned to be obtained from salmon roe; now the development of domestic producers is underway.

Although immunity is a complex system of the body, every person is able to control it. By changing the vector of lifestyle in a positive direction, you can achieve significant results that will affect not only health and well-being in general, but also other aspects life activity.