To make a short story long... Killer cells from my body have begun spraying poison in my nasal cavity in an attempt to kill a cold virus. However, this is warfare on the crudest front. In this process many of my own cells are obliterated and worse yet, its not enough to contain the virus which is now breeding inside half a million of my nasal cells. The good news is that in my body two single immune cells exist which are capable of wiping out the cold invasion all together. Just two little cells among trillions and until theyre found, my natural killer cells will continue their unsophisticated carpet bombing alone. As a result, I can begin to feel the effects of the battle being waged. My nasal cavity and throat is becoming raw and swollen. Strangely enough, none of my cold symptoms will be caused by the virus itself. Instead, theyll be triggered by the desperate rear guard action of my own immune system. My whole body will be drafted into the battle against the virus and my comfort will be forfeit until the war is won. Macro-phages in my throat will release a chemical distress signal called Interleukins which will travel through my blood stream and summon reinforcements to the battle. Interleukins also have the unfortunate side effect of making a person feel terrible. The virus itself has only attacked a tiny patch of cells in my throat and nose, but my whole body will ache when the interleukins swing into action. Even this discomfort serves a purpose. Its my bodies way of coercing me into conserving energy for the fight with the virus. But those clever interleukins dont stop there. They will send signals to the part of my brain which keeps my body temperature at a steady 98.6 degrees telling it that Im much colder than I actually am so that I will shiver, and cover up with blankets. The cold virus thrives at 98.6 degrees, but as my temperature rises virus cloning slows down. Sadly though, the raised temperature will make the blood vessels around my brain swell giving me a headache. At this point Ill be tempted to take a pain killer, but doing so would also lower my fever and allow the virus to operate at its desired temperature. At the same time, my immune system kicks into overdrive producing new cells at a faster rate. Even my hair and fingernails will grow about twenty percent faster than normal. Alarmingly though, even with all this unless those two immune cells can be found, my body will lose the war. This is where the Dendrite cells come into play. In my throat and nose, these dendrite cells have been gathering fragments of the virus to help them find the two immune cells. The dendrite cells will float around in my lymph showing the virus fragments to every T and B cell they come into contact with. Its almost like trying a key in a trillion different locks to see which one it fits. Every T and B cell is designed to kill a different foreign invader and every one waits for the right key. Among all these cells, just one T cell and B cell is designed to deal with my cold. If theyre found, my body will almost certainly win this war. Finally, the dendrite cell will find the right T cell and turn the key in its lock. This cell will begin to clone itself until my lymph nodes are swollen with these immune system special forces. Like every other unpleasant symptom of my cold so far, the swollen feeling will be caused not by the virus thats trying to kill me but rather my own body fighting it. This symptom though is a sign that the fortunes of war are about to turn in my favor. In my throat the avenging T cells will strike with the same surgical precision as seal team six. They will kill viruses that have taken refuge in the compound of my cells. But wait, what about all the viruses that are free floating in my body waiting to move into a cell? Well, dont lets forget about the B cell in my lymph. At this time it has cloned itself and the clones are releasing billions of anti-bodies into my system. These anti-bodies attach themselves to free floaters and paralyze them. At this point, its all over but the crying, though Ill still feel all the symptoms until my body is good and sure the virus is annihilated. Often times this takes several days to a week. I guess what Im trying to say is that Im getting sick.
Posted on: Tue, 26 Nov 2013 06:12:25 +0000
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