Our survival depends on a immune system that is seldom discussed in any depth. I don't think we knew much about it until recently. My early impressions were of a complicated and boring system that no one understood. Well..., things have changed. Immune system knowledge is increasing and could now be considered useful and interesting. One good place start is a new book for the casual reader: 101 Questions About Your Immune System by: Faith Brynie pub: 2000 The book is full of data and covers most common health problems. Here is a sampling of facts: We have 10-100 times more microbes on or in our body than cells. More bacteria live in your gut than the total number of people who have ever lived. Allergies occur when the immune system makes a mistake. AIDS is an example of immune system failure. In Africa 21 million people have AIDS and only 480,000 in Europe. To some extent this is due to immune system differences. All animals have immune systems... Or immune systems have animals. The one conclusion that i learned from this book was balance. We live in a sea of microbes that support us and eventually eat us. Our good health depends upon a balance of helper microbes which can detect what is "self" and what is non-self. jeff
