What actually happens inside your body when you are sick? [Part 2]
@Kurz_Gesagt (In a nutshell) has released a great new video that explains the difference in how your immune system reacts to pathogens compared to vaccines ( ). 🧵1/
@Kurz_Gesagt (In a nutshell) has released a great new video that explains the difference in how your immune system reacts to pathogens compared to vaccines ( ). 🧵1/
Unrolled one-page web views for both part 1 and part 2 of this long thread that may be easier to read or share can be found here (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1631657208780922885). 2/
Part 1 of the thread looked at the damage inflicted to the body by pathogens and also collateral damage from the immune system (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1631657631537414146). 3/
Part 2 explains there is something you can do to avoid much of this damage and the second half of the video shows the best way train your immune system. You can jump to that section of the video here ( ). 4/
@Kurz_Gesagt has done a great job animating the video so please watch it, but I will also highlight some of the important points in this thread at a simplified high level. They provide their sources of information on this page ( sites.google.com/view/sources-w… ). 5/
Your immune system is unique and everyone has a slightly different immune system that works better against some pathogens and weaker against others. 6/
This makes evolutionary sense as it protects the entire human species from being wiped out by a single infection. 7/
Overall the immune system of the human species is a spectrum, most respond well enough to an infection, a few are super responders, and a few don't respond well and die. 8/
As examples of different outcomes:
- some survived the black death plague
- some are more resistant to HIV or COVID virus
- some are even resistant against Ebola
- others are killed easily by the Flu
- some are highly vulnerable to certain bacteria
9/
- some survived the black death plague
- some are more resistant to HIV or COVID virus
- some are even resistant against Ebola
- others are killed easily by the Flu
- some are highly vulnerable to certain bacteria
9/
Where you specifically are on this spectrum is impossible to predict, especially since your immune system responds differently to every possible infection. 10/
This is why some seemingly very healthy young people died from COVID infection while for some elderly people it was more like a mild flu. 11/
The idea that you are protected from all sorts of diseases if you never get a cold is wrong. You never know what your immune system is good at until it is tested. Getting sick is a gamble in life's casino with your health always on the line. 12/
Thankfully there is something you can do to take advantage of one of the best features of your immune system. 13/
Usually when you survive a disease you have better defenses against that specific disease afterwards. Your immune system develops memory (T & B) cells that are very good at killing the specific pathogen you fought that day. 14/
With the memory immune cells, the next time you are exposed to the same pathogen you typically either don't get the disease again or the next infection is much milder. 15/
Science has used this knowledge to develop tools to train your immune system to prevent or limit damage before you are even exposed. 16/
Vaccines basically pretend to be a disease and train your defenses how to fight them if the pathogen ever shows up for real. The goal is to create the same immune memory cells that you would get after surviving an infection. 17/
But if you feel side effects from a vaccine (recall that is your body ramping up the immune response, not from the vaccine itself) what are the benefits to still do it? 18/
You have two options to train your immune system: Vaccine Dojo and Nature Dojo. [Thought you might like this Aoki Sensei (@Nantanreikan)] 19/
In Vaccine Dojo you train with paper weapons and learn to defend yourself. You might get a "black eye or a bruise", sometimes after a vaccine you feel sick for a few days from your immune response, but generally no scars and no permanent damage. 20/
Getting a disease to become immune means going to a Nature Dojo where you train with real weapons, sharp knives and swords. Things may still work out but with way more cuts and wounds. 21/
Sometimes people will actually die or have long-term complications in Nature Dojo, be it a child from measles or an adult from influenza. Nature Dojo is just way more risky. 22/
[Jeff comment: Vaccines provide a very small measured dose of training material for your immune system, while real pathogens like viruses will multiply and expose your body to many times more enemies to fight so much higher potential for damage. 23/
A COVID infected person carries an estimated 1 to 100 billion virus particles (virions) just at the peak of infection not adding up the amount over the entire infection ( pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pn… ). That is a *lot* of virions for your immune system to battle and destroy.] 24/
Oftentimes the immunity you get from a vaccine is actually better than infection from the real pathogen because vaccines are engineered to engage your immune system in a more productive way. 25/
It is important to note that vaccines are not magic and sometimes they don't protect us as well as we would like them to. Sometimes this is because a pathogen mutates too quickly like the various Omicron COVID virus variants. 26/
Since everyone's immune system is unique, some people don't respond well to a specific vaccine and build less of a defense. 27/
Being vaccinated is one of the best tools to train your natural defenses so we can do our best to take care of ourselves and others. Your body and your older self will be grateful to you. 28/
Even better than having your body defend against a pathogen that invades it is not to get exposed to that pathogen in the first place! 29/
Just like people expect clean water to safely drink, clean air is important to protect yourself as well, not just from pathogens but also from other pollutants linked to various health problems which you can learn more about here (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1607379781892575234). 30/
Studies have shown the risk of infection from COVID decreased as ventilation rates increased and were able to get an 80% reduction in infections compared to rooms with only natural ventilation (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1618223942472437760). 31/ Click "Show replies" 👇 to continue.
The Ontario Society of Professional Engineers ( @O_S_P_E ) have released evidence-based guidance around indoor air quality and transmission of COVID-19 ( ospe.on.ca/indoor-air-qua… ). 32/
The wealthy also believe it is important to clean the air of indoor spaces as they went out of their way to do for the recent WEF conference in Davos, Switzerland. The conference space before was not good enough so they upgraded it to be #DavosSafe (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1618223851212767232).33/
Don't forget there are also personal air filters people can use called masks/respirators! This thread helps explain *how* they block viruses that are so small and which ones work best (
https://twitter.com/jeffgilchrist/status/1602994049815908353). 34/
Use multiple layers of defense to prevent being exposed to the pathogen in the first place so your body only needs to use its Vaccine Dojo training as a last resort. 35/
Ideally you never need to use the techniques your immune system has mastered through years of training because you weren't in a position to be exposed in the first place (
https://twitter.com/Nantanreikan/status/1630658533544067072). 36/
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