00:00Your immune system is a trained assassin, but what happens when the target wears your own face?
00:07This is molecular mimicry.
00:10Certain viruses and bacteria are biological Trojan horses.
00:15They don't just attack, they camouflage.
00:18They evolve to look exactly like your own proteins, your heart, your joints, or even your brain.
00:25Your immune system spots the intruder, but it can't tell where the germ ends and you begin.
00:32In a panic, it opens fire on everything.
00:35This identity theft is how a simple throat infection can accidentally trick your body into attacking its own heart.
00:44It's the ultimate biological betrayal.
00:47But how does your body eventually learn to spot the lie?
Comments