Medicine

Medicines are compounds of chemicals that prevent or treat illness. Most illnesses occur when normal body processes get out of whack. Most medicines work by bringing those processes back into proper balance. Medicine may need to be taken for years or even over a lifetime to keep a body working properly. Imbalances occur more often as the body ages, so older adults tend to need more medicines than young people.

Some illnesses come on strong and therefore need stronger medicine. Antibiotics kill germs that cause infections. Chemotherapy wipes out cancer cells. These medicines work quickly and tend to be needed just for short periods.

Vaccines are medicines that actually prevent illness. They contain a piece of a germ--too little to cause an infection, but enough for the body's immune system to identify the germ as an invader. Immune cells memorize the germ's features as they clear it from the body. Then, when similar germs invade the body in the future, the immune cells recognize them and pounce.