Let’s find out ‘What Is Inflammation And How Does The Body Respond To Vaccines And Stings?’ You have a fever when your body fights off an illness. You will have joint pain if you have arthritis. Your hand will swell and become stiff if a bee stings it. These are all signs of inflammation that the body is experiencing.
We are two immunologists who research how the immune system responds to diseases where the body starts attacking itself, vaccinations, and infections.
While inflammation is frequently linked to pain from an injury or the numerous diseases it can cause, it plays a crucial role in the immune system’s typical response. The issues come up when this usually beneficial function overreacts or stays too long.
Professors of pathology, microbiology, and immunology at the University of South Carolina, Prakash and Mitzi Nagarkatti originally wrote this piece, which was then published in The Conversation.
What Is Inflammation?
In general, the term “inflammation” refers to all immune system activities that take place when the body is attempting to fend off potential or actual infections, eliminate toxic substances, or recover from physical injury. Heat, pain, redness, swelling, and loss of function are the five traditional physical indicators of acute inflammation. Even though low-grade inflammation may not even show symptoms, the cellular process it causes is the same.
Take a bee sting as an illustration. The immune system has a vast variety of weapons at its disposal, much like a military force. The immune system sends different kinds of immune cells to the sting site after detecting the toxins, bacteria, and physical harm caused by the sting. These include, among other cells, T cells, B cells, macrophages, and neutrophils.
Antibodies are produced by the B cells. These antibodies have the ability to eradicate any microorganisms from the site and counteract venom poisons. Bacteria are engulfed and killed by neutrophils and macrophages. To stop the spread of viruses, T cells destroy any infected cells instead of producing antibodies.
These immune cells also create hundreds of different molecules known as cytokines, also referred to as mediators, that aid in defending against dangers and repairing bodily damage. However, inflammation has a side effect similar to a military attack called collateral damage.
Some healthy cells are also killed by the mediators that aid in killing bacteria. Other related mediating molecules open blood vessels, causing fluid to build up and an increase in immune cells.
You experience pain, swelling, and redness after a flu vaccine or after a bee sting because of this collateral damage. Different elements of the inflammatory response take control and aid in the repair of the injured tissue after the immune system eliminates an infection or foreign invader, such as a toxin from a bee sting or a chemical from the environment.
Your body will eliminate any bacteria that got inside after a few days, neutralize the poison from the sting, and repair any tissue damage.
Inflammation As A Cause Of Disease
Inflammation has two sides to it. Inflammation is essential for preventing infections and healing tissue damage, but when it happens unintentionally or becomes chronic, the damage it does can be damaging.
For instance, allergies happen when the immune system misidentifies harmless things as harmful, such as pollen or peanuts. Minor harm, such as itchy skin, or dangerous harm, such as throat constriction, can result.
Long-term tissue damage from chronic inflammation can result in a wide range of clinical conditions that are not infectious, such as cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative disorders, obesity, diabetes, and some types of cancer.
Sometimes the immune system misidentifies one’s own tissues and organs as foreign invaders, causing generalized or localized inflammation. The signs and symptoms of autoimmune illnesses, such as lupus and arthritis, are brought on by this self-targeted inflammation.
Defects in the processes that control inflammation after the body eliminates an infection are another source of persistent inflammation that researchers like us are actively researching.
Although inflammation mostly manifests at the cellular level in the body, it is not a straightforward mechanism that occurs on its own. It has been demonstrated that stress, diet, and nutrition, as well as genetic and environmental factors, all regulate inflammation in some way.
Although there is still much to learn about what causes harmful forms of inflammation, maintaining the delicate balance between a robust immune response and harmful chronic inflammation can be done in large part by eating a healthy diet and avoiding stress.
