• Question: Which is the most dangerous problem that the immune system can have?

    Asked by Nachoparra to Ceri, Marikka, Matt, Rob, Sally on 11 Nov 2014.
    • Photo: Marikka Beecroft

      Marikka Beecroft answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      That’s a good question. The most dangerous problem I believe the immune system can have is when it can’t recognise what’s harmful and what’s safe, which is called autoimmunity. The immune system then starts attacking parts of the body that’s it’s meant to protect like your gut, skin, nerve cells and blood. Some autoimmune diseases are easier to treat than others but some aren’t and sometimes there is no treatment or cure for them.

    • Photo: Sally Cutler

      Sally Cutler answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Hi Nachoparra, not even the immune system is safe from infection as even those phagocytic cells designed to seek and destroy can become home to some infections!

    • Photo: Robert Hampson

      Robert Hampson answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      I think Septic Shock is one of the most dangerous immune system effects. Basically, if your immune system if fighting bugs, and they get into your blood, often immune cells spot them and release chemicals activating other cells. These cells then release more chemicals activating the other cells. The chemicals are called cytokines and the effect of continuously producing more of them is called a cytokine storm. This seriously activates the immune system and it kind of goes around attacking everything, and often normal cells start randomly committing suicide in response to the cytokines. It can kill people who previously looked fairly healthy very very quickly.

    • Photo: Ceri Dare

      Ceri Dare answered on 11 Nov 2014:

      Maybe Severe Combined Immunodeficiency, which is where babies are born without having a working immune system at all. At first they died very quickly from infections. Now there are some experimental treatments. But in the 1970s, there were no good treatments, so a boy with SCID lived in a sterile plastic bubble for 12 years http://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/bubble-boy-40-years-later-look-back-at-heartbreaking-case/

      The biggest problem people who were previously well can get is probably sepsis, where the body reacts to an infection by producing massive inflammation all over, so people’s blood pressure drops dramatically, so their other organs shut down. More about sepsis here: http://sepsistrust.org/info-for-the-public/

Comments