How to strengthen immunity

When I am asked how to strengthen immunity, I first smile and then ask questions. There are many questions. The conversation can take half an hour, or maybe an hour. But sometimes the answers may not be found at the end of this hour.

I have been working as a pediatric immunologist for more than 20 years, and I still do not have a clear answer to this question or specific recommendations. And here's why.

Immunity itself is a rather complex system, in which there is a small number of organs (red bone marrow, thymus (thymus gland), spleen and lymph nodes) - and a huge number of various cells located in all human organs and tissues, an even larger number receptors on these cells and a much larger number of genes controlling all this diversity. Moreover, failure can occur at any of the levels - from genes to organs. Without a doubt, I can call immunity a whole universe inside our body. And how to strengthen the universe? Probably, it will be clearer with examples.

Case one: Boy 11 months old, from second pregnancy, second birth. He was sick with SARS six times, the last time - with stenosis and a long cough. Not vaccinated. His older brother is 2.5 years old, not fully vaccinated, and started going to kindergarten six months ago.

Case two: Child from the first pregnancy (IVF), first birth. She gets sick very often, by the age of two she suffered five obstructive bronchitis and three acute pneumonias with respiratory failure.

Case three: The girl is eight years old, the only child in the family. He goes to a grammar school with a mathematical bias, additionally attends a music school and foreign language courses. During the last year, she had a urinary tract infection twice, SARS five times, bronchitis with broncho-obstructive syndrome twice.

Is it possible to give the same advice on strengthening immunity in all these cases? - Of course not.

In the first case, which is absolutely standard and often occurs, there are no problems with immunity in any of the children. Due to circumstances, the older child had to go to kindergarten early at the age of two, at a time when the immune system was still immature, and there was no help in the form of post-vaccination immunity. In such children, there are frequent infections caused by hemophilic infection and pneumococcal infection, frequent cases of infection with whooping cough. They "bring" these and other infections home, becoming a source of illness for younger children. The best advice for strengthening immunity in this case is vaccination. And not only from the infections indicated in the Calendar, but also from pneumococcus. After vaccination, in the absence of vaccine-controlled infections, ordinary SARS will no longer cause so many problems.

In the second case I encountered an unusual problem and suspected the long-awaited baby of droopy eyelid syndrome. This is a hereditary syndrome in which the movement of the pulmonary epithelium, which is necessary for the removal of foreign particles and large bacteria from the lungs, suffers. The most important thing is that the same mechanism controls the movement of sperm tails. This baby, who appeared as a result of IVF, would not have been able to be conceived under normal conditions due to the low mobility of the father's sperm. In this situation, everything is fine with immunity, but the presence of such a defect implies a mandatory differential diagnosis of pneumonia even with ordinary SARS, and, unfortunately, frequent administration of antibiotics, since the bacteria will still linger in the lungs. And mandatory vaccination! Including from whooping cough, hemophilic infection and pneumonia.

In the third case the girl had a background neurosis with a depressive state. It's no secret that the mental state has an enormous impact on immune processes in children, and immunity decreases with depression. In the pursuit of early and further development, parents forget that children are easily overstressed and do not recover well in a short time, sleep little, eat poorly outside the home. These factors can seriously disrupt the child's immune system, so he will be sick often and for a long time. After all, only illness can give the desired rest in the circle of various circles and schools.

Despite the variety of problems with which parents turn to an immunologist, there are still basic recommendations for strengthening immunity:

1. Complete nutrition of the child (by type of products, calorie content), long-term breastfeeding. There are no products "for immunity". This is a myth, with one exception. It has been proven that breast milk improves the immune function of babies and provides more complete immunity in the future.
2. Gymnastics, massage, hardening and swimming pool, maintaining conditions in the house favorable for the work of the immune system (temperature 20-220C, during sleep - up to 200C, humidity at least 60%).
3. Vaccination against infections indicated in the Calendar and additional ones.
4. Entering the children's team, if possible, not earlier than three or four years old.
5. Adherence to sleep and wakefulness, reducing the amount of time a child spends on the Internet.
6. Compulsory exercise, but not for achievement, but for pleasure, to ensure the necessary mobility two or three times a week.
7. Avoidance of polypharmacy in the treatment of SARS, use of antibiotics strictly according to the doctor's recommendation, no more than nine days a year.
8. Use vitamins only on the recommendation of a doctor who knows the child well. Not all vitamins are useful, not all are necessary for your baby.

In this article, I did not consider food allergies, fungal infections, enlarged lymph nodes, tonsils and adenoids, prolonged subfebrile (a rise in body temperature above 370C for more than two weeks), gluten intolerance - and many other things that lead to frequent and long-term illnesses. We will return to these issues later.

For any questions and complaints that arise, make an appointment with an immunologist to find out in your specific case whether your baby has immune problems.

Article author - Bravistova Natalia Oleksandrivna

Article reviewer - Rykov Oleksii Arkadyovich