| | Immune Disorders
. One of the most intractable of immunology's problems today is a disease that attacks the immune system itself, AIDS, or Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, caused by the Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
Immunology is both the study of the human immune system and the field of medicine that treats diseases of the immune system. Immunity is the body's ability to resist a disease, and the immune system is a bodywide network of interacting systems: bone marrow, white blood cells, the entire lymph system and even the skin. Since the immune system is so broad, encompassing everything from blood cells to skin, immunology is a very broad field of study. Everyone, particularly those with weakened immune systems, is encouraged to get their flu shot, which causes the body to produce its own antibodies to repel those particular flus.
AIDS leaves the body susceptible to infections that a healthy patient would easily combat with his or her own antibodies. Every year, the World Health Organization (WHO) makes a highly educated guess at which, out of a large number of flu bugs, are likely to be in circulation in the coming year, and formulates the 'flu shot'.
Flu shots are an example of immunology in action. Immunology dates back to ancient civilizations, as it has long been known that certain individuals are naturally immune to some diseases, and that survivors of certain diseases are immune to the disease they survived.
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