Glossary

Antibodies - proteins produced by the immune system to fight specific bacteria, viruses, or other antigens.

Antigens - foreign substances (e.g. bacteria or viruses) in the body that are capable of causing disease. The presence of antigens in the body triggers an immune response, usually the production of antibodies.

Bacteria - very small, single-celled life-forms that can reproduce quickly.

Epidemic - a widespread outbreak of an infectious disease; many people are infected at the same time.

Eradicated - the disease is gone "forever," and control measures are no longer necessary for example smallpox.

Febrile Seizures - convulsions brought on usually by a high fever in infants or small children.

Fungi – a group of organisms that lack chlorophyll (which helps plants to make food). They are unable to create their own food and must get their nutrients from the environment around them.

Genome - the complete set of genetic information of an organism including DNA and RNA.

Immune Response – the general reaction of the body to substances that are foreign or treated as foreign.

Immune System – the system that protects the body from attack by unknown substances, such as bacteria and viruses.

Immune - free from acquiring a certain infectious disease; resistant to an infectious disease.

Lymphocytes - a type of white blood cell that helps the body fight infection they also direct the formation of antibodies, and that has memory .

Memory - the ability of a cell to retain information received for future use.

Natural Infection – resistance to an illness because of past infection with the illness.

Neurodevelopment - the growth and development of the nervous system including the brain and spinal cord.

Pandemic - an epidemic occurring over a very wide area, crossing international boundaries and usually affecting a large number of people. A global epidemic.

Series - vaccine given with in a certain amount of time to ensure that each vaccine has the best immune response in the body.

Vaccine - essentially any preparation intended to prevent a disease from occurring

Viruses - extremely small and simple life-forms made merely of a protein shell and a genome. A virus reproduces by inserting its genome into the cells of other life-forms. As those cells duplicate, so does the virus. It can not reproduce on its own.