Page 23 - The Miracle of the Immune System

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Besieged Castle: The Human Body

MICROSCOPIC MONSTERS

The "dust mite" (left) is only one
of the millions of organisms with
which humans live with but can-
not see.
A parasite larva while breaching
the human skin (bottom). This
organism will make
its way to the blood
stream through the
skin, and settle into
the vessels to multi-
ply. It uses incredi-
ble tactics to escape
from the body’s
army of defence,
such as camouflag-
ing itself with the
material it rips off
from the host cell.

fight their way through the front line of the body. Even though these
fronts have their weaknesses at times, the enemy is hardly ever allowed
to pass through them. The first front the enemy must penetrate is our
skin.

The Protective Armour of Our Body: The Skin

The skin, which covers the entire body of a human being just like a
sheath, is full of amazing features. Its ability to repair and renew itself, its
non-permeability by water, despite the existence of tiny pores on its sur-
face as opposed to its function of discharging water through perspiration,