Your new kitten scratches your roommate. Her skin is reddened and feels warm and
ID: 95393 • Letter: Y
Question
Your new kitten scratches your roommate. Her skin is reddened and feels warm and sore to the touch; she thinks she has contracted some kind of fatal infection. In order to deflect her anger, you try telling her the activities of the innate defense system. Explain what is actually happening to her skin. How would her body react if the same kitten (who apparently hates your roommate) scratches her again a month later? Your new kitten scratches your roommate. Her skin is reddened and feels warm and sore to the touch; she thinks she has contracted some kind of fatal infection. In order to deflect her anger, you try telling her the activities of the innate defense system. Explain what is actually happening to her skin. How would her body react if the same kitten (who apparently hates your roommate) scratches her again a month later?Explanation / Answer
This is called inflammation which is part of our innate defence mechanism.Inflammation does not necessarily mean infection, even when an infection causes inflammation. Infection is caused by a bacterium, virus or fungus, while inflammation is the body's response to it. Mast cells at the site of infection (kitten scratches) release histamine, which is a vasodilator. It causes localised swelling, redness, heat , pain and also brings white blood cells at the site of infection. These white blood cells do their job by removing the pathogens and at the same time develop immunity against these pathogens. So, next time if the same kitten infects her a month later, she could have developed a reportier of Antibodies (adaptive immunity) to fight against the same pathogens but this time without skin inflammation.
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