Immune System

HIV Tries To Escape Immune System
by eNotAlone.com
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), the virus that causes AIDS, is quickly adapting in order to escape the body's immune system, making it challenging for scientists to come up with a potential vaccine, new findings show.

Primary Immunodeficiency (PI)
by National Institute of Health
Most of us are no strangers to infections. Just about everybody has had colds and coughs and infected cuts, the flu or chicken pox. Some people have had first-hand experience with infections that are even more serious - pneumonia and meningitis.

Multiple Sclerosis : The Immune System
by National Institute of Health
To understand what is happening when a person has MS, it is first necessary to know a little about how the healthy immune system works. The immune system - a complex network of specialized cells and organs - defends the body against attacks

Multiple Sclerosis Guide
by National Institute of Health
Although multiple sclerosis (MS) was first diagnosed in 1849, the earliest known description of a person with possible MS dates from fourteenth century Holland. An unpredictable disease of the central nervous system, MS can range from relatively benign

Understanding Ulcerative Colitis
by National Institute of Health
Ulcerative colitis is a disease that causes inflammation and sores, called ulcers, in the lining of the rectum and colon. Ulcers form where inflammation has killed the cells that usually line the colon, then bleed and produce pus.

Understanding Crohn's Disease
by National Institute of Health
Crohn's disease is an ongoing disorder that causes inflammation of the digestive tract, also referred to as the gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Crohn's disease can affect any area of the GI tract, from the mouth to the anus, but it most commonly affects

Understanding Celiac Disease
by National Institute of Health
Celiac disease is a digestive disease that damages the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. People who have celiac disease cannot tolerate a protein called gluten, found in wheat, rye, and barley.

Autoimmune Hepatitis : Symptoms, Diagnosis and Treatment
by National Institute of Health
Autoimmune hepatitis is a disease in which the body's immune system attacks liver cells. This causes the liver to become inflamed (hepatitis). Researchers think a genetic factor may predispose some people to autoimmune diseases.

Understanding the Immune System
by National Institute of Health
The immune system is a network of cells, tissues, and organs that work together to defend the body against attacks by 'foreign' invaders. These are primarily microbes (germs) - tiny, infection-causing organisms such as bacteria, viruses, parasites

Autoimmune Lymphoproliferative Syndrome (ALPS)
by National Institute of Health
ALPS (autoimmune lymphoproliferative syndrome) is a rare disease discovered by a team of doctors and scientists at the National Institutes of Health (NIH). The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and the National Human Genome

Aging : The Immune System, Calories and Diet
by National Institute on Aging
Muscles: Without exercise, estimated muscle mass declines 22 percent for women and 23 percent for men between the ages of 30 and 70. Exercise can slow this rate of loss. Bones: Bone mineral is lost and replaced throughout life; loss begins to outstrip

Multiple Vaccines and the Immune System
by CDC
Currently, CDC recommends vaccination against 12 vaccine-preventable diseases. Because some of these vaccines have to be administered more than once, a child may receive up to 23 shots by the time he or she is 2 years of age.

Autoimmune Diseases
by Women's Health Information Center
Our bodies have an immune system that protects us from disease and infection. But if you have an autoimmune disease, your immune system attacks itself by mistake, and you can get sick. Autoimmune diseases can affect connective tissue in your body

Cancer Vaccines: Immune Response
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
Experimental vaccines teach the body's own defenses to attack cancer cells. With cancer vaccines, the emphasis is on treatment, at least for now. The idea is to inject a preparation of inactivated cancer cells or proteins that are unique to cancer cells

Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma: A Cancer of the Immune System
by Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
A cancer of the immune system, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma is now the sixth most common cancer in the United States, increasing 75 percent in the last 20 years. Treatments include drugs, radiation, and bone marrow transplants--and researchers are looking

An Infant's Immune System
What Your Doctor May Not Tell You About Children's Vaccinations
by Stephanie Cave, M.D., F. A.A.F.P., Deborah Mitchell
Infants come into the world with antibodies they have gotten from their mother through the placenta. Infants who are breastfed continue to receive many important antibodies in the colostrum; the thick, yellowish premilk that is secreted during the first