COWBOYS OF THE IMMUNE SYSTEM

Have you seen old movies of American cowboys herding cattle to the rail head to be slaughtered in the meatworks?  They identify the cattle, round the cattle up, herd the cattle and drove them to the rail head ready to be transported for slaughter.

There are cowboys in the immune system. These identify germs and viruses, memorize for future use, round the germs up and hold them, kill some on the way and herd to the CD4 cells that swallow.

There is a real collection of immune system cowboys. There are CD4, CD8, dendritic cells, cytokines, chemokines, mucosa and langerhan cells of the mucous layer and antibodies.

But these fail with HIV as the HIV replicates or breeds in the CD4, the very cells that were supposed to kill them. There are CD4 anchored in the mucosa of the mouth, anus, vagina and penis. There are CD4 T cells that float around in the blood and lymph.

The HIV is herded down to the massive collection of CD4 in the gut wall. At the same time that the HIV enters the gut CD4, the gut lining is being destroyed slowly stopping the absorption of nutrients, water and salts.

The gut lining of the small intestine is the greatest killing ground for the germs and bacteria that gather in the gut. The gut is actually the filthiest part of the body particularly for people who eat a lot of half cooked meat. Those who eat fruit and vegetables fresh and raw have the cleanest gut.

In Papua New Guinea, people would have pig kills in the highlands and eat large quantities of half cooked meat. It would rot in the gut and turn gangrene. Then the gut wall would rot. It would be like eating a dog decomposing on the road.

But HIV turns the gut lining  into the greatest HIV breeding ground in the body. But the gut and body is being slowly killed through starvation and infection.

The next major collection of HIV is in the genitals of people with other STIs. The STIs are in the genitals, attracting large numbers of floating CD4 cells.

But then the HIV is herded by the immune system cowboys to the CD4 in the genitals. A person with STIs and HIV will have large accumulations of HIV in the genitals.