NATURAL IMMUNITY FUNDAMENTALS

Disclaimer: The scope of the NIF class is restricted to clarifying scientific research on the immune system, immunity, and immunization.  NIF lectures do not substitute medical advice.

LECTURE 1

© Tetyana Obukhanych, Ph.D.  All rights reserved. No part of this presentation may be copied, modified, or distributed.
For the list of references mentioned in this lecture, click HERE.

Dr. Tetyana Obukhanych is Immune Science Educator at BBCH (Building Bridges in Children's Health), an online community of parents, health advocates, and health care professionals dedicated to learning the science that impacts children's health and healthy immunity. 

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​NIF LECTURE DESCRIPTIONS:

LECTURE ONE
What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger: Risks and Benefits of Viral Infections
VIRUSES.  Are they our mortal enemies or partners in health?  Viruses cannot exist without their natural host.  Viruses have nothing to gain and everything to lose, if they kill off their host species.  Why are then some viral infections deadly? Is it the fault of the virus or of the host’s weakened immune system? This lecture will explore evidence that even those viruses that are generally considered deadly, can infect humans without causing harm, and that many benign childhood diseases (measles, mumps, or chickenpox) decrease the risk of some forms of cancer and atopic disease (hay fever, eczema, asthma).

LECTURE TWO
Understanding the Immune System's Anti-viral Defenses: How Fever Suppression, Nutritional Deficiencies,
Pesticides and Food Additives Impair the Immune System
THE IMMUNE SYSTEM.  Is it there simply to cause symptoms and make you feel miserable during infection?  Not unless you neglect to nourish it and understand how it functions.  In its most functional state, the immune system won't even bother you with symptoms, by dealing with your infection subclinically. This lecture makes the distinction between the innate and adaptive branches of the immune system, their complementary roles in handling viral infections, and the role of symptoms, such as fever, when it is necessary.  You will learn how to avoid interfering with the immune system by means of nutritional deficiencies, pesticides, and OTC drugs.

LECTURE THREE 
Understanding the Immune System's Anti-microbial Defenses: The Role of Vitamin D Signaling, Anti-microbial Peptides, Neutrophils, Microbiome, and Bioactive Components of Breast Milk
THE FLU, PNEUMONIA, AND MENINGITIS. What does the flu and invasive bacterial diseases have in common?  They occur when the immune system shuts down the production of “natural antibiotics.”  This lecture will help understand why influenza tends to occur during winter months and how to stay flu symptom-free.  Also, learn here how breastfeeding protects infants from invasive bacterial diseases, including ear infections, pneumonia, and even meningitis.

LECTURE FOUR 
Injectable Health: Does Vaccine Immunity Last? 
​Unfulfilled goals and unintended consequences of mass vaccination
VACCINATION. Does injectable health last?  This lecture will convey the difference between the immune system and immunity and deconstruct the good ol’ immunologic paradigm of lifelong vaccine immunity.  Waning vaccine immunity is the culprit behind unanticipated delays in global viral eradication programs, erosion of maternal immunity, and outbreaks of “vaccine-preventable” diseases in highly-vaccinated populations.

LECTURE FIVE 
Aluminum in Vaccines: Is It Good for You?  An Immunologic Perspective
ALUMINUM.  Why is it in many vaccines?  This lecture will explain the use of aluminum compounds as vaccine adjuvants and highlight the mechanism of their immune-triggering properties (i.e., cellular damage.)  Modern research has implicated aluminum adjuvants in neurotoxicity, induction of autoimmune syndromes, sensitization to food proteins, and even obesity.

LECTURE SIX 
​"Community Immunity": Do Vaccine Mandates Safeguard Public Health?​
VACCINE MANDATES.  Do we have the right to pursue our health without coercive vaccination? This lecture will go over several currently mandated childhood vaccines and explain why coercive routine vaccination of unwilling individuals is neither necessary nor sufficient to prevent the spread of infections in public spaces.