Why do young children often get sick?

Scientists found that young children are very easy and often sick, because their immune systems are extremely "forgetful".

Statistics from the World Health Organization (WHO) show that infectious diseases currently cause one third of infant deaths worldwide.

Vaccination protects people by "teaching" the immune system to remember pathogens. However, immunity in newborns is rapidly impaired, often requiring additional booster injections after the first vaccination.

" The perfect vaccine will be a single dose at birth and bring the possibility of prolonged immunization , " said immunologist British author Brian Rudd, who led the new study. However, there is no such vaccine in the world, because we still do not understand why babies lose immunity very quickly.

Immunity in newborns is rapidly weakening, often requiring additional injections of booster vaccines after the first vaccination.(Photo: Getty Images)

Through a series of experiments, the researchers found that the immune system in young mice actually responded to the infection faster and stronger than the adult mice. However, the immunity they produce does not last long. This phenomenon is said to occur similarly in humans.

According to a research report in the Journal of Immunology, immunity to most microorganisms depends on the formation of T memory cells , helping the immune system to remember certain pathogens and possibly Quickly deal with future infections. Adults almost always produce large amounts of T cells during infection and 10% of them will remain in the long-term memory group to quickly react next time.

Rudd's team found that new T-cells produced to respond to infections in mice had faster and more powerful action than mature cells, but also quickly died, making them impossible. Join the memorization group of the immune system. This makes it easier for the immune system to forget what they have learned in the fight against the pathogen and force it to begin the process of learning from time to time when the same germs come later in life.

Researchers now hope to find a way to change this behavior, by creating newborn T cells, behaving like adult cells on how to learn immunity from vaccines. as reaction to infection. Creating immunity in this new way can protect babies and young children from infectious diseases.