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What is a Germ?
Rabies is caused by a special type of germ called a virus. There are many types of germs including viruses, bacteria, parasites, and fungi (plural for fungus). They are known as microbes and can only be seen through a microscope. Microbes are studied by a medical scientist known as a microbiologist.

Because this microscopic world is invisible to the human eye, you probably don’t usually think about it until you get sick, for example, when you get a 'head cold'. When you 'catch a cold’, it's because one of these germs attacked you. That's why we need an immune system.

Your Immune System
The immune system is your body’s natural defense system. Just like every country has an army, you have one too! It’s always trying to keep out the germs, because if it doesn’t, you'll get sick. 

Has someone ever coughed in your face? Either you got sick from being coughed over, or you didn’t. If you didn’t, it's thanks to your immune system! It's doing the job it's supposed to do! And if you did get sick, it's because your immune system got overwhelmed. Maybe you were tired or you were eating too much junk food, or you had so many germs attack you, there wasn’t much your immune system could do to stop you from getting sick.

Most times your ‘army’ would regroup and eventually defeat the invaders but in the meantime you feel unwell. The great thing about your immune system is that if those germs dared come back again, you would have a good chance of fighting them off, because your immune system learns about how the germs attacked and remembers that for next time.

The problem is, germs are smart too - they will try to figure out ways to make you sick again. Germs are 'bad guys' who come back for more so they can stay alive and keep making trouble! Luckily, we can help our immune system fight off the bad guys! Here's a few ideas that will help:

Wash Your Hands!
Don't Pick Your Nose!
Eat Fruit & Vegetables!
Don't Stay Up Too Late!

Doing these things help your immune system to be ready to fight off germs. But sometimes we need to get extra help to build a strong immune system. That's why we have vaccines to help us.

Go to Vaccines & Antibiotics
Go to The Rabies Virus
Go to Symptoms of Rabies