Does consuming Vitamin C reduce the risk of having a cold - Research Paper Example

We call it infection. An infected person is the one whose body has been penetrated with microbes such as Viruses, Bacteria or Fungi. As the microbes continue to grow in the body, the disease gets severe until the person infected is killed. Viral infection occurs when tiny disease-causing particles, called a virus, enter the body and begin multiplying. More than 400 different viruses are known to cause infections in humans. (Natural Standard Research Collaboration, 2011)[1] Most commonly known viruses that cause diseases are common cold, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B, HIV, Influenza (flu).

How are we protected from diseases? To protect from attacks and damage from microbes, God has created human beings with many defensive techniques. The first barrier against the microbes is human skin. Unless the skin is cut, and blood comes out, microbes cannot enter the body. Second protection is white blood cells which are there in the body to defend us. White blood cells eat microbes and also hunt them down before they can mix in the red blood cell. White blood cells also produce antibodies.

Antibodies are natural destroyer of microbes. The antibodies are produced automatically as soon as a microbe enters the human body. For every single type of microbe, a new type of antibodies is made. The third thing that protects microbes from entering our body is hairs in our nose. They catch microbes which are in air or atmosphere. The fourth thing that protects microbes is mucus, a sticky substance that lines nose and windpipe and also washes microbes away from the eyes in tears. In spite of the researches and efforts by human being, the microbes keep entering the human body constantly and make people ill.

Those who are infected when do not take necessary medicine on time let the microbes grow to the extent that can kill them. In general all viral infection cause fever and the body uncomfortable which in common terms we call “sick” or “ill”. However the sign and symptoms depend upon the severity of infection and the type of virus which infected the body. The only way to cure viral infections is to make the body produce antibody which can destroy the viral microbes. The antibiotics made by scientist only cure microbes of type “bacteria”.

However, microbes of type “virus” do not destroy by antibiotics. Scientists have found a new way to cure virus microbes. This new process is called “immunization”. A body is immunized when a “vaccine” is injected in to the bloodstream. This vaccine contains the microbes that cause the disease. The microbes in vaccine are slightly modified. They are either dead or weakened or some portion of it is used. After the injection white blood cells make antibodies against the microbes that were injected by the vaccine.

Hence we say that our body is now immunized from a particular viral disease. Any time in future, when a microbe of this type enters the body, it is immediately recognized and the army of antibodies comes into action by attacking, hunting and destroying it preventing the body from the viral disease. What is cold? Cold is a viral disease. When a person is infected by cold virus, his throat soars. As the virus grows in the body, the eyes, nose and ears all start to pain. It may raise temperature and cause fever.

The effect of cold and flu virus on an individual body depends on the army of antibodies the body posses. Larger army of antibodies