-As the coronavirus continues to dominate global conversation,
you might read about people who are immunocompromised.
The Centers of Disease Control defines
this as persons with weakened immune systems.
-To understand what it means to be immunocompromised,
you have to first understand what the immune system does,
and the immune system is the body's way of identifying
and defending against foreign things like viruses,
bacteria, fungus, cancer cells, et cetera.
And the immune system is made up of cells and tissues and organs.
So somebody who's immunocompromised
then has deficiencies in this,
and they're not as able to then ward off infections
and other sorts of issues that can arise.
-You probably know someone
who has an immunocompromising condition.
They can be as common as asthma or diabetes
or as severe as cancer.
-There are categories that are considered high risk
such as being over age 65, and then being immunocompromised
is sort of a subset of the people who are at high risk.
So, somebody who is immunocompromised
may either have an inherited disorder,
they may have an underlying condition
like diabetes or asthma that puts them at greater risk.
They may be taking medications
that actually suppress the immune system,
or they may have actually an overactive immune system
that impairs its function, like in autoimmune diseases.
-My parents noticed it when I was very little
because they went to take me to get my measles vaccine,
which is very common,
and I ended up getting the measles, which is not common.
It doesn't often happen, but it was a sign
that something was not going right in my immune system.
-Jackie Green is 26 years old and lives in Washington, DC.
She has been immunocompromised for much of her life.
-White blood cells, most people have them,
and that's how they're used to fight infection, right?
Something foreign enters the body and white blood cells
are there to save the day.
They're there to fight against infection and inflammation.
So I don't really produce those.
-Jackie has a low white blood cell count,
so her body does not produce enough interleukin-1,
a type of protein released by white blood cells
at infection sites.
Interleukin-1 attracts and activates other cells
that help fight off infection and injury.
-What somebody might get is a 24-hour bug, for instance,
would become a week-long issue
now that I have my medication that I take.
Before, it could end up being, like, a two-week issue
or, you know, like I'm sick for a month or something
'cause I just don't have the inflammatory response needed.
-People with immune compromised or immune deficiencies
are at high risk for a few reasons.
One is that they may not have
the typical symptoms that somebody has.
For example, they may not mount a fever,
which is one of the hallmark symptoms
of having coronavirus infection.
In addition, they may not be able to fight off
as well the infection when they get it,
so they may be more susceptible to more serious infections
or more serious consequences of the infection.
-It should be something that people in our age group
just act as if, like,
it's a possibility they could get it, their --
anyone close to them could get it,
not just their grandparents or somebody in the abstract.
Like, it's a real thing.
You don't have to, like, look sick to be sick, you know?
-I think a lot of conditions like immune deficiencies,
people will dismiss them
because somebody may look like they're fine on a regular basis
but aren't understanding what patients are going through
and the risks that they have.
For the rest of us, you know, I think it is just as important
to be aware when we're interacting
with other people that they may, in fact,
have one of these underlying risk factors,
and do our best to respect and keep the boundaries
that we need to in order to keep them safe.