How the immune system fights pathogens | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

Duration: 7'03''

Synopsis

Spec references J247: B6.3l J250: B6.3i. Researchers study microbes in extreme environments, which increases their risk of exposure to pathogens. Previous illness has helped build their immunity. White blood cell goes to lymph node, which produces antibodies if the pathogen is recognised. Second part of clip shows research on natural killer cells (type of white blood cell) and how they fight off pathogens.

Further Information

More clips from The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

02: Survive | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

02: Survive | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 58'56''

Chris and Xand van Tulleken look at what keeps the human body alive, including reflexes, damage repair mechanisms...

An Introduction to Homeostasis | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

An Introduction to Homeostasis | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 2'11''

We live on a knife edge, and we are amazingly good at doing it. Chris van Tulleken gives a sim...

Fear Response | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

Fear Response | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 3'51''

Chris van Tulleken accompanies some snake hunters at work, showing what happens inside our bodies when we exper...

How the body maintains temperature | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

How the body maintains temperature | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 8'52''

Spec references J247: B3.3b. Experiment to observe change in temperature and how it affect...

How the body responds to extreme temperatures | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

How the body responds to extreme temperatures | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 3'36''

Chris van Tulleken uses a miniature thermometer to explore what happens to his ...

Natural killer cells | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

Natural killer cells | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 4'55''

How white blood cells, especially 'natural killer cells' fight viruses in our bodies.

Survive | The Human Body: Secrets Of Your Life Revealed

Survive | The Human Body: Secrets Of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 58'15''

Drs Chris and Xand van Tulleken discover the everyday miracles that keep you alive. They explore the extraordinary le...

The body's complex repair system | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

The body's complex repair system | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 3'17''

How our bodies respond and repair when we are injured.

The body's response to extreme cold | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

The body's response to extreme cold | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 3'07''

How do our bodies react and respond when we dive into freezing water?

More resources about Pathogens and disease

HIV | The Truth About...

HIV | The Truth About...

BBC One | 2017 | 57'50''

Dr Chris van Tulleken explores the latest science around HIV, meeting health professionals, scientists, and individuals affected by it in the UK and...

Infested! Living with Parasites

Infested! Living with Parasites

BBC Four | 2014 | 59'04''

Dr Michael Mosley explores the bizarre and fascinating world of parasites by turning his body into a living laboratory and deliberately infes...

Ultra-Processed Food: A Recipe for Ill Health? | Panorama

Ultra-Processed Food: A Recipe for Ill Health? | Panorama

BBC One | 2023 | 28'56''

Ultra-processed foods contain chemicals that regulators say are safe, but there is emerging evidence of a link betw...

Defeating the Superbugs | Horizon

Defeating the Superbugs | Horizon

BBC Two | 2012 | 59'05''

Meeting the scientists who are tracking the emergence of 'superbugs' - dangerous bacteria resistant to antibiotics - around the world.

An introduction to phagocytes | Inside the Human Body

An introduction to phagocytes | Inside the Human Body

BBC One | 2011 | 1'41''

Michael Mosley looks at how white blood cells, called phagocytes, fight bacteria inside our blood.

The role of T cells and antibodies when fighting an infection | Inside the Human Body

The role of T cells and antibodies when fighting an infection | Inside the Human Body

BBC One | 2011 | 3'08''

Using state-of-the-art graphics, Michael Mosley explains what happens when a virus ente...

How babies gain intestinal bacteria through their mothers milk | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

How babies gain intestinal bacteria through their mothers milk | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 2'36''

Why does a human mother's milk contain complex oligosaccharide...

S04E04: London | Local Heroes

S04E04: London | Local Heroes

BBC Two | 1999 | 29'06''

Adam Hart-Davis heads to London to discover how Isambard Kingdom Brunel tunnelled under the Thames and to find out more about the inventor of t...

Winter Viruses and How to Beat Them

Winter Viruses and How to Beat Them

BBC Two | 2013 | 59'02''

Professor Alice Roberts and Dr Michael Mosley examine how viruses effect the human body and how they spread, as well as examing how to st...

Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry

Making Sense of Cancer with Hannah Fry

BBC Two | 2022 | 59'11''

In an award-winning documentary, Hannah Fry takes a personal look at the issues surrounding how we screen for and treat cancer, asking...

Malaria: Return to Fever Road

Malaria: Return to Fever Road

BBC Four | 2009 | 1'23'21''

Documentary which reveals the harsh realities of malaria within a rural Kenyan village community, highlighting man's endless fight against a di...

03: Diet and Disease | Medical Mavericks

03: Diet and Disease | Medical Mavericks

BBC Four | 2007 | 59'02''

Dr Michael Mosley explores the lengths to which pioneering doctors have gone to uncover the connections between what we eat and what...

Why Is Covid Killing People of Colour?

Why Is Covid Killing People of Colour?

BBC One | 2021 | 59'02''

David Harewood investigates what the high Covid-19 death rates in black and minority ethnic patients reveal about health inequality in...

More from Xand van Tulleken

T Cells | Made of Stronger Stuff

T Cells | Made of Stronger Stuff

BBC Radio 4 | 2021 | 27'27''

Psychologist Kimberley Wilson and Dr Xand van Tulleken take a journey through the body's immune system and profile a remarkable white blood ...

Fighting for Air

Fighting for Air

BBC Two | 2018 | 58'41''

Dr Xand van Tulleken stages the first ever large-scale experiment of its kind, looking for ways to reduce air pollution in the UK. Can air quality be improv...

How babies gain intestinal bacteria through their mothers milk | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

How babies gain intestinal bacteria through their mothers milk | The Human Body: Secrets of Your Life Revealed

BBC Two | 2017 | 2'36''

Why does a human mother's milk contain complex oligosaccharide...

The human impact of protecting Virunga National Park | Expedition Volcano

The human impact of protecting Virunga National Park | Expedition Volcano

BBC Two | 2017 | 5'16''

A sewing workshop created to provide work for women who have lost their husbands to the protection ...

00: Goes Back in Time | Operation Ouch!

00: Goes Back in Time | Operation Ouch!

CBBC | 2014 | 28'31''

Dr Chris and Dr Xand turn back the clock and look at what medicine was like in the First World War. They meet a Paralympian runner wh...