Fighting Invaders

The immune systems of humans and horses are what keep us alive. Without a properly functioning immune system, disease would run rampant, with serious illness and death being the ultimate outcome.
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The immune systems of humans and horses are what keep us alive. Without a properly functioning immune system, disease would run rampant, with serious illness and death being the ultimate outcome. Unfortunately, it is not a simple system that functions the same for all species or even for all individuals within a species. Much of what we know about the immune system has been learned in recent years. There is promising research continuing, but generally speaking, progress is made in small stages or steps.

One of the most exciting approaches in ongoing research, says Johanna Watson, DVM, PhD, assistant clinical professor in the department of medicine and epidemiology at the University of California, Davis, involves determining the early responses of the immune system to disease. By understanding what is involved in the early response, researchers will be better able to come up with modalities of treatment and prevention, she believes. In other words, man will be able to do a better job of intervening and helping the equine immune system ward off attackers.

Watson describes the immune system and its role in preventing disease in terms of a battle against warring invaders. “Think of the body as the nation,” she says, “and the immune system as the national defense.”

Ian Tizard, PhD, BSc, BVMS, MRCVS, author of Veterinary Immunology, An Introduction, sees it in a similar light, though he uses a different analogy. “In some ways,” he wrote, “the immune system
may be compared to a totalitarian state in which foreigners are expelled and citizens who behave themselves are tolerated, but those that ‘deviate’ are eliminated. While this analogy must not be pursued too far, it is apparent that such regimes possess a number of characteristic features

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Les Sellnow was a prolific freelance writer based near Riverton, Wyoming. He specialized in articles on equine research, and operated a ranch where he raised horses and livestock. He authored several fiction and nonfiction books, including Understanding Equine Lameness and Understanding The Young Horse. He died in 2023.

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