"You’ll just feel a little jab." Ouch! That wasn’t too bad, and it could save your life. Most of us have had "shots" from a needle. These are usually vaccinations, and they are extremely valuable. They help protect us against diseases. Virtue most vaccinations are given to protect against diseases caused by viruses. Viruses are germs, and they are extremely tiny. They infect (get into) your body, multiply, and make you feel sick. Chicken pox is one example of a disease caused by a virus. The chicken pox virus gets inside the body and multiplies. It causes a fever followed by a rash of itchy red spots.
What Are Vaccine? A vaccine is usually a small amount of liquid that contains dead or weakened versions of a virus or other type of germ. Weakened viruses can still multiply within the body but cannot cause disease. Vaccines can also contain tiny amounts of harmful substances, called toxins, which are made by the viruses. But they don’t have enough toxin to make you sick. Some vaccines are oral, which means you can eat them or drink them. However, the powerful digestive juices in your stomach would destroy most vaccines. So vaccines are usually given by needle. Becoming Immune Your body attacks and destroys the weakened virus or toxin in the vaccine before it can make you sick.
In this way, you become immune to (protected from) the disease the virus causes. The vaccine enables the body defenses, or immune system, to recognize and destroy the virus. . To destroy the virus, your immune system produces special substances, called antibodies, in the blood. Antibodies are able to fight and destroy particular viruses. If the real virus later invades, the immune system can kill it very quickly, before it starts to multiply.
This article was culled from the publications of Deen Communication Limited