Resources
- Coronavirus disease (COVID-19): Herd immunity, lockdowns and COVID-19'Herd immunity', also known as 'population immunity', is the indirect protection from an infectious disease that happens when a population is immune either through vaccination or immunity developed through previous infection. WHO supports achieving 'herd immunity' through vaccination, not by allowing a disease to spread through any segment of the population, as this would result in unnecessary cases and deaths.
- How Herd Immunity Works — And What Stands In Its WayWhat will it take to finally halt the spread of the coronavirus in the U.S.? To answer that question, we've created a simulation of a mock disease we're calling SIMVID-19.
- What’s Going On in This Graph? | Covid Herd ImmunityHow can we get to herd immunity faster but with fewer people dying?
Streaming Media
- Understanding Herd ImmunityMore health and medical news on the Mayo Clinic News Network.
- What is Herd Immunity?Find out what herd immunity is, how it can protect you and when herd immunity may be reached. And why receiving a COVID-19 vaccine is so important.
Perspectives
Immune: How Your Body Defends and Protects You
A thrilling, fact-packed journey of discovery through the body's immune systemThe human body is like an exceedingly well-fortified castle, defended by billions of soldiers - some live for less than a day, others remember battles for decades, but all are essential in protecting us from disease. This hidden army is our immune system, and without it we could not survive the eternal war between our microscopic enemies and ourselves.Immune explores the incredible arsenal that lives within us - how it knows what to attack and what to defend, and how it kills everything from the common cold virus to plague bacteria. We see what happens when the immune system turns on us, and how life is impossible without its protection. We learn how diseases try to evade the immune system and exploit its vulnerabilities, and we discover how scientists are designing new drugs to harness the power of the system to fight disease. Do transplants ever reject their new bodies? What is pus? How can your body make more antibodies than there are stars in our galaxy? Why is cancer so hard for our immune system to fight? Why do flu outbreaks cause a spike in sleep disorders? Can we smell someone else's immune system, and does that help us subconsciously decide who we fall in love with? In this book, Catherine Carver answers all of these compelling questions, and many more besides.Drawing on everything from ancient Egyptian medical texts to cutting-edge medical science, Immune will take you on an adventure packed with weird and wonderful revelations about your own internal defensive system.
Visualizing Immunity
Researchers have used a variety of techniques over the past century to gain fun- mental insights in the field of immunology and, as technology has advanced, so too has the ability of researchers to delve deeper into the biological mechanics of immunity. The immune system is exceedingly complex and must patrol the entire body to protect us from foreign invaders. This requires the immune system to be highly mobile and adaptable - able to respond to diverse microbial challenges while maintaining the ability to distinguish self from a foreign invader. This latter feature is of great importance because the immune system is equipped with toxic mediators, and a failure in self/non-self discrimination can result in serious diseases. Fortunately, in most cases, the immune system operates within the framework of its elegant design and protects us from diverse microbial challenges without initiating disease. Because the immune system is not confined to a single tissue, a comprehensive understanding of immunity requires that research be conducted at the molecular, cellular, and systems level. Immune cells often find customized solutions to h- dling microbial insults that depend on the tissue(s) in which the pathogen is found.
Resistance
A North Carolina woman dies of a flesh-eating bacterial disease. Thousands of people in West Africa are suffering from cholera. And antibiotics are rapidly becoming less and less effective at fighting what were once mild infections. The biggest threat to the future of human society may not be terrorist attacks or nuclear war, but rather microscopic bacteria. Immunologist Norbert Gualde explains in Resistance the dangers we face from bacterial resistance, asserting that we must confront the reality awaiting us--the next fatal plague may occur sooner than we think. Over the course of the twentieth century, incredible advances in medicine inspired a utopian belief among many that all common infectious diseases would eventually be eradicated. But Resistance shows that this dream is an impossible one. The book's riveting narrative reveals how new infectious agents and diseases are being discovered every day and how bacteria previously thought to have been destroyed are returning with a vengeance. Drawing upon the history of past epidemics, Gualde explores how new outbreaks might be predicted and controlled. He also investigates the potentially devastating social and political impact of such public health disasters, particularly in underdeveloped countries in the southern hemisphere. He ultimately argues that the constant interaction between man and microorganisms will inevitably catalyze future epidemics similar to the horrific ones of centuries past. Global outbreak monitoring and medical research on the human body's immune system are beginning to produce effective strategies against bacterial resistance. But the most important weapon is awareness of the crisis, and this engrossing and brilliantly translated study will serve as a wake-up call for us all.