A friend tells you that she has tender, swollen 'glands' along the left side of the front of her neck. You notice that she has a bandage on her left cheek that is not fully hiding a large infected cut there. Exactly what are her swollen 'glands,' and how did they become swollen?

Video transcript

Hi, everyone. Here's our next problem. Lymph nodes are small bean shaped structures that are part of the lymphatic system and play a crucial role in filtering lymph fluid and trapping harmful substances like bacteria or viruses. Swollen lymph nodes are often a response to a dehydration. B. Allergic reactions, c broken bones or d high blood pressure. Well, when we think of swollen lymph nodes, we often think most frequently of infection a response to infection in the body. But they can also be a response to choice B allergic reactions. And that makes sense because an allergic reaction, the body is reacting with some sort of allergen as if it is a germ as if it is an illness. So, allergic reactions and infection are the most common sources of swollen lymph nodes. When we look at our other answer. Choices. Choice. A dehydration, dehydration, of course is when the body lacks sufficient fluid, but that wouldn't cause swollen lymph nodes. So we'll cross that off and then to see broken bones can result in localized swelling and infection but doesn't generally cause swollen lymph nodes. So that's not correct. And then finally choice d high blood pressure also result of uh the two high blood pressure in the blood vessels but wouldn't cause swollen lymph nodes. So we can cross that out. So again, the swollen lymph nodes often responds to choice B allergic reactions. See you in the next video.