The Body’s Immune System

The body’s immune system is amazingly good at defeating pathogenic invaders such as bacteria, viruses, moulds, and fungi. It even goes after some types of parasitic worms. There are organs all over the body, and special types of blood cells which protect the body from these harmful invaders.

Unfortunately there are situations where the body’s immune system does not function properly. Many people have an immune system which does not work well. Included are the elderly, people suffering from malnutrition, obesity, and alcoholism. Immunodeficiency can also be caused by various diseases and cancers, such as leukemia and AIDS.

Radiation treatment can cause immunodeficiency, and one dilemma in treating chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL) is that most of the chemotherapy agents commonly being utilized also make the body’s immune system function even more poorly than it already was.

“CLL affects a particular lymphocyte, the B cell, which originates in the bone marrow, develops in the lymph nodes, and normally fights infection. In CLL, the DNA of a B cell is damaged, so that it can't fight infection, but it grows out of control and crowds out the healthy blood cells that can fight infection.” Wikipedia

This picture shows a tiny little scratch which I got on the calf of my left leg several days ago. It was so small as to be almost unnoticeable. But because I have rather advanced CLL, the B cells which normally fight infection are damaged and can’t properly fight off infection.

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