Lymphatic System Immunity

Immunity

Rapid progress has been made in the field of immunology. This section gives only a brief overview sufficient to help the massage therapist understand the relevant clinical conditions related to immunity.

Immunity is the ability of the body to resist infec-tion and disease by activation of specific defense mechanisms. The human body has many different defense mechanisms. Some of them are nonspecific; they do not differentiate one type of threat from an-other. Others are specific, developing defenses specifically against one particular type of threat. Both types of defense need to be functioning to provide ad-equate defense to the body (see Figure 9.9).