A primer for parents on how to keep their kids healthy in school would be a good one for adults, too. Wash hands, get enough sleep each night, do the Vampire Cough (cough into your elbow, like you’re a vampire wrapping your cape around your face), and eating healthy are all things us grown-ups should be doing, too.
And the article nicely describes the adaptive and innate levels of the immune system. It instructs parents not to get bent out of shape if a kindergartner or preschooler comes home sick once in a while. It’s natural that exposure to new microbes within new groups of kids is going to challenge the immune system, but hopefully the adaptive immune cells remember those microbes and are ready to pounce on them next time before they multiply too much.
The potential problem the article leaves out is the notion that if the immune system is not strong and balanced, the response to a virus or bacteria may be too aggressive–or not aggressive enough. If too aggressive, symptoms can linger for days or weeks, even though the invader has been vanquished. If too weak, the virus or bacteria proliferate and morph into something more serious, like pneumonia.
