--- title: Germs, the immune system and hand-washing — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Germs, the immune system and hand-washing», a lesson of the medicine course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Germs are tiny living things, bacteria, viruses and fungi, far too small to see without a microscope; most bacteria are harmles --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/) / Germs, the immune system and hand-wash… # Germs, the immune system and hand-washing Lesson 30 of the medicine course of Mova's primary school: 17 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/0/) — Germs are tiny living things, bacteria, viruses and fungi, far too small to see without a microscope; most bacteria are harmless or even helpful, and only some make us ill. - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/2/) — When you graze your knee and it goes red, warm and puffy, that is the army arriving: blood brings white cells to the spot, and the swelling is part of the fight. - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/3/) — Two hundred years ago doctors thought illness came from bad air; then Semmelweis made doctors wash their hands and fewer mothers died, and Pasteur and Koch proved that germs cause disease. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/4/) — Most germs reach your mouth on your own hands, which is why twenty seconds with soap, about two Happy Birthdays, is one of the most powerful medicines there is. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/5/) — Germs include bacteria, viruses and fungi; most bacteria are harmless or helpful, and your gut holds trillions of useful ones. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/6/) — Bacteria are single cells too small to see without a microscope, and viruses are smaller still. - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/7/) — White blood cells find and destroy germs, and some make antibodies that stick to germs and are remembered for next time. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/8/) — No single food or drink can boost the immune system; sleep, a good diet and exercise keep it working well. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/9/) — Washing hands with soap and water for about 20 seconds, including thumbs, between fingers and under nails, removes germs that cause colds and tummy bugs. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/10/) — Ordinary soap works well, and antibacterial soap has not been shown to be better for everyday use. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/11/) — A sneeze can spray droplets several metres, so the advice is to catch it in a tissue, bin it, then wash your hands, or sneeze into your elbow. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/12/) — The 5-second rule is a myth: bacteria can move onto dropped food in under a second, depending on the food and the floor. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/13/) — Lymph nodes, often called glands, are part of the immune system and swell while fighting an infection, such as in the neck during a cold. - [14](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/14/) — Inflammation, redness, warmth and swelling, is the body sending blood and white cells to fight germs, but spreading redness with fever needs a doctor. - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/15/) — In the 1840s Ignaz Semmelweis showed that doctors washing their hands saved mothers' lives, and in the 1860s to 1880s Louis Pasteur and Robert Koch proved that germs cause disease. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/16/) — Before germ theory, many people believed illness came from bad air, called miasma. - [17](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/30-germs-the-immune-system-and-hand-washing/17/) — Contact with nature and many kinds of microbes may help a child's immune system develop, though scientists are still studying the details. - ← previous: [Vaccinations and why](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/29-vaccinations-and-why/) - next →: [Why we sleep when ill](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/31-why-we-sleep-when-ill/) - ↑ back to [Medicine](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/medicine/)