2003-08-27

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Zone-H.org * News : Why computer virus writers are useful and we should thank them.

We try to answer to this question with an interview with Professor Samuel D. Forrester, one of the most famous immunologists in the world. Dr. Forrester is on the run this year to get the Nobel Prize for his recent discovery of the mechanisms of aggression of over-reacting immune cells and antibodies. He teaches at the Immunology faculty at the Konigsberg University since 1986. SDF: It’s simple: every time you get a cold, you sneeze. But you could die, actually. The only reason why you don’t die is because your immune system has been programmed to react to the “threat” posed by a germ. It’s a paradox, but it’s the same germ that could kill you that trained your immune system to react when invaded. ZH: And what makes the difference? How is it possible that a germ can kill you and the same germ can train your immune system making you stronger? SDF: It’s just a matter of doses. Like with wine, one glass every day makes your heart stronger and lowers your blood pressure, one bottle every day can kill you. This is the concept on which vaccines are based. ZH: We understand that. Can we stretch the concept saying that a constant flow of germs, if received in the proper dose, makes the body actually stronger? SDF: Absolutely. If hypothetically we could take two newborn twins and put one of them under a glass-dome and the other one straight into the dangers of the real world, guess who would survive in case of a serious plague?