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The Complete Home Guide tiomHmerubns,itNyatural Healing, and Nutrition
109
infectious diseases. He lists many: Alzheimer’s, most forms of cancer,
polycystic ovary disease, multiple sclerosis, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis,
cerebral palsy, lupus erythematosus, rheumatoid arthritis, a range of
bowel diseases, and many heart and circulatory conditions. Of the latter
conditions, he talks of the links between Chlamydia pneumoniae, and heart
disease wherein live bacteria were found in arterial plaque fresh from
operating tables. The same bacteria were found in a high ratio of
Alzheimer’s sufferers. He suggests that as time goes by there will be more
and more examples of chronic diseases with an infectious
etiology— Helicobacter pylori bacterium (the cause of stomach ulcers and
disorders) being just one example.
The Layout of the Immune System
Immunity is not just a matter of balance, of germs versus our particular
microflora and whether they can cope with invasion on a physical level.
Looking at it in this way initially, however, can help us to understand the
modern view of the immune system.
The immune system is the name given to particular cells and microbes
in the blood, lymph, and some organs that defend the body against
disease, harmful foreign microbes, and antigens that come into contact
with them in the body, or indeed on the skin. The skin is our first line of
defense— the armor of the body.
The immune system itself is a wonderful, subtle, and powerful system
in which bone marrow, spleen, liver, thymus, tonsils, appendix, stomach,
and adrenal glands have important roles to play. The system is intelligent
and sensitive: for instance, chemicals issue from damaged cells in a form
that allows them to pass through blood capillary walls and “eat” microbes
by a process called phagocytosis. Their numbers increase according to the
condition, as they are able to determine the severity of the situation.
Certain cells can produce a chemical called interferon, which is useful
because it limits the replication of a virus. Other cells secrete histamine,
which causes blood vessels to dilate, which, in turn, helps the healing
process. Still others increase their numbers during allergic responses,
alleviating the condition by neutralizing histamine.
Different cells wander through the body seeking foreign bodies known
as antigens. These cells enter the tissues to become macrophages (or “big
eaters”), which can multiply as needed in affected organs. These macro-
phages are capable of isolating affected areas while they destroy antigens.
Cells have to be “educated” and activated as macrophages. Once
they have been, their job is to find and destroy all invasive organisms,
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