Human Body – Infiltration by Influenza B
1. What is present in the nose to trap particles? ___________________________________
2. If the influenza B virus survives, where are the target cells? _____________________
3. Flu viruses have evolved to take advantage of how human cells work. The cells
communicate using ____________________ . The virus has spikes that mimic the
harmless proteins and so the virus can slip inside the cells.
4. How many viruses can be produced in one throat cell? _________________________
5. Each new virus then sets out to do what? _____________________________________
6. Natural killer cells patrol and spray poison onto cells. What happens to the cells?
_____________
There are not enough of these patrol cells to contain the virus since there are now more
than ½ million viruses.
7. Collateral damage sets in. Cell debris accumulates and has to be removed. This is done
by the __________________________, which eat the debris.
8. Holly’s throat is raw and sore because her immune system has _____________________.
Holly is getting the flu. Her symptoms are triggered by her body reactions
9. Holly’s well being in now sacrificed and her whole body is recruited. Now is the time
when the macrophages release __________________________________________.
These surge through the blood stream to the site of infection.
10.These interleukins make her feel terrible. Her whole body aches. But pain has a purpose.
Holly’s body tells her to __________________________________________________
and conserve her energy in order to defeat the viruses.
11.The interleukins now turn up Holly’s thermostat so that she feels ___________________
12.Holly now has a ________________________________.
13.As her temperature rises the virus cloning _____________________________________.
14.The higher temperature in her brain swells the blood vessels and Holly gets a
________________.
If Holly were to take painkillers now to lower the fever, the viruses would get a new lease
on life and the flu would last longer.
15.After 36 hours, Holly’s body now releases cells called
______________________________ cells which gather up virus spikes and to in search
of viruses.
In the lymph, T and B cells are developed to kill different foreign invaders. Just 1 T cell
and 1B cell can kill the Influenza B virus.
A dendritic cell can dock with a the T cell that could have been waiting a long time in
Holly’s body.
16.In 1 hour this T cell can produce 1000 more T cells. This causes the lymph glands to
____________, since it is now packed with T cells.
In Holly’s throat the T cells home in on the infected throat cells and remove them.
17.This action causes Holly to ______________________, since the cilia have been
destroyed in the process.
18.On the other side of the attack, the B cells recognize the virus spikes and it clones and
manufactures millions of _____________________________________.
These antibodies latch on to spikes of virus and paralyze them. So, viruses inside cells are
killed by T cells and viruses outside the cells are killed by antibodies.
When the immune system scales down Holly begins to feel better. It has taken a week.
New throat cells begin to grow; some T cells shrivel and die, but some remain.
19.These T cells that remain are called __________________________ cells.
20.These cells give Holly __________________________ to the virus if she is in contact
with it again.
The influenza virus has one more trick – it can mutate and then the memory cells cannot
recognize it. This means that Holly may get the flu again in the future.