A healthy immune system fights off infections (whether
germs, virus, fungi or parasites). Our
immune system does amazing work with little fanfare. Without our immune system, we would live
shorter lives. But sometimes the immune
system becomes ill and it malfunctions. One way it malfunctions is called
auto-immune disease. Auto-immune disease happens when the body’s
immune system gets confused about ‘self’ vs. ‘non-self’ and begins attacking
itself. Auto-immune diseases include rheumatoid
arthritis, lupus erythematosus, type 1 diabetes (also called “juvenile onset diabetes”,
psoriasis and multiple sclerosis.
Some auto-immune diseases are treated with drugs which
suppress the immune system. For example,
people dealing with rheumatoid arthritis may find their doctor prescribing
drugs such as methotrexate, glucocorticoids and other drugs which
control/suppress the immune system.
No comments:
Post a Comment