Page 25 - The Miracle in the Immune System

Besieged Castle: The Human Body 23

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
multiply. It uses
incredible tactics
to escape from
the body's army
of defence, such
as camouflaging
itself with the
material it rips off
from the host cell.

The invader cells that want to take control of the
body first have to fight their way through the front line
of the body. Even though these fronts have their weak-
nesses at times, the enemy is hardly ever allowed to
pass through them. The first front the enemy must pen-
etrate 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 surface
as opposed to its function of discharging water through