I remember laughing at the absurdity of this statement when I was in chiropractic school. After all, this is something we learn about from birth! We get exposed to a germ, it infects us, and we get sick. Done deal. Simple. There were actually people who claimed they "didn't believe" in this simple concept. REALLY? How could they be so ignorant?
But one day, I decided to put my pre-programmed dogma aside and really think about this idea.
Microscopic organisms (e.g. bacteria, viruses, fungal spores, etc) cover every surface we come in contact with (with the exception of perhaps the operating theater where surgery is preformed, and even then, germs get in). They even cover our skin and line the walls of our digestive tract. They reside in every orifice of our body. Many of them are even beneficial and necessary to our survival! This means that more than likely, we are actually exposed to the critters that cause colds and flus almost every day of our life! Staph and strep are regular residents on and in our body. If you want to know what else might be living on you and are immune to the heebie jeebies, click here. (Otherwise, just keep reading.)
So why don't we all have staph and strep infections all the time???
Because most of us have an extremely effective immune system!! Our body is constantly working to keep our little ecosystem in balance. This is why a group of people can all be exposed to the same infected individual, but they don't all get sick. So it really isn't as simple as just getting infected, is it? Because if our body is properly cared for, we can defend ourselves! The same concept applies when it comes to the diseases we are vaccinated against. We can defend ourselves from those, too! Aren't we amazing creations?!
There are many things we can do to strengthen our immune system to help fend off these invaders. Stay tuned for that upcoming post.
Looking forward to helping you have a happy and healthy Holiday season!!
Dr. Redmond
