How does our body fight off infection? This is often a great mystery but it might be worth while knowing about with all the current lock downs and restrictions going on around the world. So now might be a great time to learn how your body really operates so you can make informed decisions about your health. Everybody has their own natural or innate immune system that works to fight off bacterial, viral and fungi infections that can occur throughout your body.

In your blood there are a number of white cells that function solely to combat different types of pathogens or organisms. These white cells can fight diseases or neutralize certain types of body conditions such as allergies. These white cells are lymphocytes, monocytes, neutrophils, basophils and eosinophils. Monocytes are like the Pacman – they surround and engulf certain types of pathogens like bacteria and help remove them from the body. Lymphocytes on the other hand are white cells that help in fighting viral infections.

The first line of defense against these invading pathogens ie. viruses and bacteria, is the nose hairs and the tonsils in the throat. If the pathogens gets past here then more complications can occur. Simple ways or home remedies to fight off infection at this early stage is to gargle salty water or use nasal sprays regularly, especially when you get a sore throat etc. The salty water or eucalyptus nasal sprays are thought to help kill the infecting microorganisms.

But if the infection spreads further throughout the body such as into the lungs, then other immune mechanisms come into play and this is when antibodies and other killer cells are produced and released into the blood stream. –