Disease resistance facts for kids
The ability of your body to fight off sickness is called disease resistance. It means your body can stop or reduce how much a disease affects you, even if others might get very sick. This protection can come from your DNA (your genes) or from things in your environment.
Sometimes, your body might not prevent a disease, but it can handle it better so you don't feel as sick. This is called disease tolerance. It's like your body has a stronger shield against the disease's bad effects.
Farmers also work to make their Plants resistant to diseases, which helps crops grow strong and healthy.
Contents
Understanding Disease Resistance
Your body has amazing ways to protect itself from germs and illnesses. This protection, or disease resistance, can be influenced by many things. Think of it like having a natural defense system!
How Genes Help Fight Sickness
One of the most important ways we get disease resistance is through our genes. Genes are like instruction manuals inside our cells that tell our bodies how to grow and work. Sometimes, these instructions can give us special protection against certain diseases.
When Genes Don't Fully Show Up (Incomplete Penetrance)
Imagine a gene that causes a certain trait, but it doesn't always show up completely. This is called incomplete penetrance. A great example of this is with sickle cell anemia and malaria.
People who inherit one normal gene and one sickle cell gene (called heterozygous HbAS) usually don't get sick from sickle cell anemia. This is because the sickle cell trait doesn't fully show up. However, this partial trait changes their red blood cells just enough to make it very hard for the malaria parasite to grow inside them. This gives these individuals a natural resistance to malaria, which is a serious disease spread by mosquitoes. It's a fascinating way one genetic change can offer protection against another illness!
Special Genes That Protect You
Some genes are like superheroes, directly boosting your immune system or stopping harmful germs. For instance, there's a gene called Mx1 that makes a protein. This protein can block certain viruses, like the influenza virus, from making copies of themselves inside your body. This gives some animals, like mice, a natural defense.
Another important group of proteins are called Toll-like receptors (TLRs). These are like tiny alarms on your cells. They recognize when a harmful germ, like a bacteria or a virus, is present. When a TLR spots a germ, it immediately triggers your immune system to start fighting the infection. Small differences in these genes can make your body even better at fighting off sickness!
Blood Cell Changes and Malaria Protection
There's a group of genetic conditions called hemoglobinopathies. These conditions affect hemoglobin, which is a vital protein in your red blood cells that carries oxygen. These conditions can either change the shape of hemoglobin or reduce how much of it your body makes.
While some hemoglobinopathies can cause health problems like anemia, they also offer an unusual form of protection against malaria. In places where malaria is very common and dangerous, these genetic changes became more widespread because they helped people survive the disease. It's another example of how our genes can adapt to protect us from serious illnesses.
See also
- How plants get disease resistance
- Plant disease resistance
- Gene-for-gene relationship
- Malaria
- Sickle cell disease
- MX1
- Toll-like receptor
- Hemoglobinopathy
