Immune System Response & Covid-19

The covid-19 virus has raised our awareness and focus as to just how fundamentally important natures immune system really is to maintain and promote healthy body function for both our- selves and our immune system.This has become even more apparent to the team at Silberhorn as we are a rare breed of enterprise with a functional down to earth Southland approach to health and commerce, with a call centre operational through working hours 8.30 -5.00pm Monday to Friday.

We enjoy the contact especially the feedback of your needs and personal experiences.

The products we have specialised in are very much focused on supporting and boosting our immune response our frontline defence system that recognises pathogens and viruses, the agents of disease that may compromise our health.

Pathogens can rapidly adapt and evolve to circumvent our immune response; the immune system must constantly adapt and update in order to recognise the ever changing viruses and pathogens that are constantly part of our environment.

Each year as our weather cools the risks we are exposed to by the viruses that have been circulating and adapting through the northern hemispheres winter will eventually make their way across the equator via the host transport- ers, foreign tourists and New Zealand travellers returning home. Invariably introduce us to the current crop of viruses and pathogens and the cycle repeats.

We are building up a considerable amount of anecdot- al information in respect of the covid-19 virus; those who were impacted the least shrugged off the virus in a day or two, it triggered an immune response that identified and neutralised the virus, leaving in its wake antibodies that were evidence of contact with the virus. The only symptoms many people experienced were minor sniffles, sneezes and coughs in the course of fending off the invader, for others the symptoms were a bit more apparent but not significant.

When comparing covid-19 as a global pandemic to the Spanish flu of the 1920’s, the Spanish flu impacted males between 20-40 years old the most resulting in pneumonia prior to death, for many as this pandemic developed and progressed the virus mutated many times.

It is interesting to note how it became known as the Spanish flu. It was rampant through the battle fields and trenches of WW1, the countries involved had media blackouts and censoring, the only country that had a free press was Spain hence the news leaving Europe was via Spain and the label attached to the virus became the Spanish flu which killed more young men than the European conflict known as the First World War.

In contrast the covid-19 doesn’t generally have a pneumonia component as it impacts the health of the body; pneumonia in simple terms is the flooding of the lungs which results in a drowning form of death as the fluid overwhelms the respiratory system. Covid-19 starved body function of oxygen by restricting the transfer via the lungs of oxygen to the blood prior to circulation through the cardiovascular system. There was much talk at the time of a shortage of ventilators to assist breathing, but the use of ventilators resulted in a mortality rate of over 80%. If you cast your mind back to well publicised medical treatment of Bo- ris Johnson the British Prime Minister received, his breathing was supported with oxygen until lung function was eventually restored.

The covid-19 virus symptoms are similar to those of emphysema and the most effective medical procedure to restore health was the same, nursing back with the use of supplementary oxygen. Another interesting point of difference between the Spanish flu and covid-19 is the fact that elderly people with additional underlying medical conditions were the majority of the fatalities, but the Spanish flu affected men largely in their prime 20 to 40 years of age, emphasising once again how important it is to maintain healthy body function thereby maintain our natural immune response and process.

Our immune system gets its first boost at birth, as we enter the world through the birth canal we are exposed to pathogens during birth. The viruses, bacteria, funguses and parasites that will share our bodies as we travel the path of life; we mentioned this in our March 2020 newsletter and how a caesarean birth may result in us being more vulnerable as our immune system doesn’t receive life’s first natural vaccination.

We have all noticed how some people tend towards better health than others who may seem quite sickly, the experience we have had with the covid-19 virus is interesting as the people most affected were those with pre-existing conditions and compromised immune response.

In New Zealand it affected our senior citizens many of whom were in elderly care facilities; this reminds me of my personal experience returning to New Zealand after sailing a yacht for 10 years around the world with a child that turned 2 just after returning to New Zealand and their exposure to the current pathogens.

The affects were minimal on the 2 year old but an onslaught of poor health and infection for myself; resulting in courses of antibiotics over the course of the year, probably as the result of the pathogens brought home by the toddler.

I later learnt that this experience of mine was very similar to that of first year school teachers, they are very often affected in the same way during their first year teaching new entrants and toddlers.