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Transcript
Immune System Diseases and Disorders Immune System Diseases and Disorders Your immune system is a complex network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to defend against germs. It helps your body to recognize these “foreign” invaders. Then its job is to keep them out, or if it can’t, to find and destroy them. If your immune system cannot do its job, the results can be serious. Disorders of the immune system include allergy and asthma – immune responses to substances that are usually not harmful, immune deficiency diseases – disorders in which the immune system is missing one or more of its parts, autoimmune diseases – diseases causing your immune system to attack your own body’s cells and tissues by mistake. Allergy – An allergy is a reaction by your immune system to something that does not bother most other people. People who have allergies often are sensitive to more than one thing. Substances that often cause reactions are pollen, dust mites, mold spores, pet dander, food, insect stings, and medicines. Normally, your immune system fights germs. It is your body’s defense system. In most allergic reactions, however, it is responding to a false alarm. Genes and the environment probably both play a role. Allergies can cause a variety of symptoms such as a runny nose, sneezing, itching, rashes, swelling, or asthma. Allergies can range from minor to severe. Anaphylaxis is a severe reaction that can be life-threatening. Doctors use skin and blood tests to diagnose allergies. Treatments include medicines, allergy shots, and avoiding the substances that cause the reactions. Autoimmune Diseases – Your body’s immune system protects you from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks healthy cells in your body by mistake. Autoimmune diseases can affect many parts of the body. No one is sure what causes autoimmune diseases. They do tend to run in families. Women – particularly African-American, Hispanic-American, and Native-American women – have a higher risk for some autoimmune diseases. There are more than 80 types of autoimmune diseases, and some have similar symptoms. This makes it hard for your health care provider to know if you really have one of these diseases, and if so, which one. Getting a diagnosis can be frustrating and stressful. Often, the first symptoms are fatigue, muscle aches and a low fever. The classic sign of an autoimmune disease is inflammation, which can cause redness, heat, pain and swelling. The diseases may also have flare-ups, when they get worse, and remissions, when symptoms get better or disappear. Treatment depends on the disease, but in most cases one important goal is to reduce inflammation. Sometimes doctors prescribe corticosteroids or other drugs that reduce your immune response. Most of these diseases were covered in the Endocrine System Diseases lesson (so you see, all of these systems overlapped). Epstein Barr Virus – Infectious mononucleosis, or “mono,” is an infection usually caused by the Epstein-Barr virus. The virus spreads through saliva, which is why it’s sometimes called “kissing disease.” Mono occurs most often in teens and young adults. However, you can get it at any age. Symptoms of mono include fever, sore throat, and swollen lymph glands. Sometimes you may also have a swollen spleen. Serious problems are rare. A blood test can show if you have mono. Most people get better in two to four weeks. However, you may feel tired for a few months afterward. Treatment focuses on helping symptoms and includes medicines for pain and fever, warm salt water gargles and plenty of rest and fluids. HIV- stands for human immunodeficiency virus. It kills or damages the body’s immune system cells. AIDS stands for acquired immunodeficiency syndrome. It is the most advanced stage of infection with HIV. HIV most often spreads through unprotected sex with an infected person. It may also spread by sharing drug needles or through contact with the blood of an infected person. Women can give it to their babies during pregnancy or childbirth. The first signs of HIV infection may be swollen glands and flulike symptoms. These may come and go a month or two after infection. Severe symptoms may not appear until months or years later.