Quote:
Originally Posted by j.p.s
I'm halfway through Immune: a Journey into the Mysterious System that Keeps You Alive by Philipp Dettmer, published November 2nd 2021 by Random House (first published October 11th 2016).
I've been looking for a recentish book that does a good job explaining the immune system suitable for a lay person. It looks like I found it on my first try and also seems unlikely any other book would have done the job for me.I urge everyone to read the first two reviews on goodreads. (The second review is 1 star as an effective ploy, it is among the most useful to me reviews of a non-fiction book I have ever read.)
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"Measles vaccination is far, far more important than preventing the disease. Our immune system has a library of all the illnesses we have faced and has an arsenal of weapons against them when an intruder from one of these diseases comes calling. It stops it in its tracks most of the time. But measles entirely destroys that library, all that built up immunity from colds, flu and all the other bugs that assailed us up until that moment are gone. You are now vulnerable to them all over again. I didn't know this about measles. For some it might mean only some more colds and flu, for others it might mean facing really dangerous diseases again."
I didn't know this! This book looks very useful.