Seeing an ill person on the street, in a building, or even in a picture, may make one's immune system work harder. Though most people have a psychological response to seeing a sick person (they want to stay away), scientists have recently discovered that seeing an ill person may trigger an aggressive physical response by the immune system. In the University of British Columbia a study was done that showed different people pictures of sick people to see it there was a response from the immune system. "It seems like it's probably good for the immune system to be responding especially aggressively at times when it looks like you are likely to be coming into contact with something that might make you sick." says Mark Schaller. He also says that his may help fight off pathogens. Pathogens are barteria, viruses or basically anything that can cause a disease. The researchers found that seeing sick people make other people have a physiological response and want to stay away from the sick person.
The researchers also wanted to find out if a person's immune system acts differently when they see a sick person. So, they set up an experiment to test this. They showed 10 minute slides to people on 2 different days. There were 3 types of slide shows. First a neutral one that was not expected to trigger any reaction from the immune system which was of furniture. Then the subjects were shown either a slide show of ill people, or a slide show of guns. Before and after each showing a blood sample was taken from each individual. The scientists added a little bacteria to the sample to test for a specific component called interleukin-6 which protects the immune system cells. The results of the experiment showed that the people who watched the disease sideshow had a stronger response by their immune system than the people who watched the gun or furniture slide shows.
Acknowledgments: None.
Questions to Consider:
Do you think that there could be other responses in the body like this one that could be useful to our health or well-being?
Do you think that this is a reasonable response to seeing a sick person? For example, when you see a sick person do you want to stay away from them or do you not notice this response?
Do you think the researchers could have done anything differently that would have made the experiment better? What would you have done if you had to come up with an experiment to test the researchers second question?
Works Cited:
ScienceDaily. Retrieved April 29, 2010, from http://www.sciencedaily.com /releases/2010/04/100427111248.htm
Herbert, Wray. "'I feel your disease.'" Association for Psychological Science.
N.p., Apr. 2010. Web. 29 Apr. 2010.
Allergy details: Retrieved April 29, 2010, from http://www.allergy-details.com/health-t/wikipedia-features-immune-system/
Lily, Arielle and Arianne- Section 2 Magenta
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