I mean common cold has been around for a long time. How has the immune system not learned how to fight it?
In: Biology
We have to to develop immunity to specific pathogens through exposure. We do not inherit immunity against them like bacteria can using CRISPR-Cas9 as a defense. When we get sick from a pathogen we develop antibodies against it that prevent us from getting sick from it if we encounter it in the future. However, pathogens replicate and mutate very quickly which allows them to evade our defenses against infection. Thus there is an ongoing coevolutionary process of our immune systems getting more effective and pathogens getting more evasive.
Latest Answers