Our immune system function can be weakened (depressed) by
many factors. According to the New World
Encyclopedia website, malnutrition including bulimia, alcohol or drug abuse,
and cigarette smoke all weaken a person’s immune system.
A person going through chemotherapy or radiation therapy for
cancer would find their immune system weakened by the treatments. This explains why these people have frequent
lab work drawn and their doctors make dosage adjustments based on their lab
report. The lab work drawn is often a
complete blood count (CBC) which includes white blood cell counts.
Young children and older people often deal with a decreased
immune system. Stress and depression
decrease a person’s immune function.
“Research shows that psychological stress can greatly increase your
susceptibility to colds and other viral diseases, namely through an increase in
serum corticosteroid levels.” (New World
Encyclopedia, http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Immune_system
Several diseases weaken the immune
system. These include cancer, diabetes
mellitus, cystic fibrosis, sickle-cell disease, ulcerative colitis and HIV.
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