New findings could help vaccine designers elicit long-term immunity
Tuesday, December 21, 2010 - 11:32
in Health & Medicine
After recovering from a cold or other infection, your bodys immune system is primed to react quickly if the same agent tries to infect you. White blood cells called memory T cells specifically remember the virus or bacterium and patrol the body looking for it. Vaccines work on the same principle: Harmless fragments of a virus or bacterium provoke the immune system to generate memory T cells that can attack the real thing later on.