There is a saying “ One who has own the small wars will win the Battle Royale”. Same is the case of antibodies. Those armies in your bodies are better than any military in the world. They have strategies and tactics that inspires even the best warriors. Lets know in depth about these fighters in your body.
Same is the case of antibodies. Those armies in your
bodies are better than any military in the world. They have strategies and
tactics that inspires even the best warriors. Lets know in depth about these
fighters in your body.
Antibodies are blood proteins which kills the foreign
particles like viruses, bacteria and hordes of microorganisms and keep your
body healthy. The foreign particle is called as antigen. The ability of an
organism to resist a particular infection, disease or illness caused by
antigens is called as immunity. Any time an antigen enters the blood stream,
the organism produces lot of antibodies to counter them.
It is a much greater battle than tuhe Star Wars or
Avengers you may have seen.
Each
antibody is specific to the disease it restricts. That means the body produces different
kinds of proteins for countering different diseases. Antibodies produced in
response to one disease cannot help in resisting other disease. Ex: An
antibody of measles will not protect you from mumps and this statement hold
true the other way round as well.
Every human body has
two types of immunity: active and passive
Active vs Passive Immunity
Difference
between active and passive immunity:
A prime difference
between active and passive immunitylies
in the method or the process by which you acquire it.
Active Immunity
Active
immunity refers to the process of introducing antigen in small amounts in an organism and let the organism produce
antibodies in response to that. These antibodies activate other immune cells to
certain pathogens. Once the body learns the art of countering this antigen in
small amount, any further disease cause by influx of large amount of same
antigen can be stopped or better say,
In case
of active immunity, a person’s immune system produces several antibodies that
activate other immune cells to certain pathogens. On future encounter with the
pathogen, the long-lasting immune cells are already primed to fight it and save
you from falling ill.
It is
called an adaptive immune response. The body adapts to the antigen or learns to
counter the antigen effects.
In real
world it is like practice tests. Before exams, you do a quite number of
practice tests so that when the final exam or term paper is given , you are
able to succeed.
While
taking practice tests before exam, you are not accorded grades, but in the
final exam you get grades. Similarly, small antigens do not provide you disease
but if large influx of antigens are there, the body must know the defense
mechanism to counter the disease or the
long-lasting immune cells are already primed to fight it and save you from
falling ill.
Passive Immunity; A brief overview
In
Passive immunity, antibodies for a specific antigen is passed from one organism’s
body to other.
A child
, when he/she is born is not capable of producing good amount of antibodies to
counter diseases. Then how does the child survive?
Well,
your mother’s love protects you.
When you
are breastfed milk by your mother, large amount of antibodies already present
in your mother’s body passes on to you .
Passive
immunity uis generally provided to chiildren and adults with weak immune
system.
Here,
antibodies are collected from a donor and a highly concentrated solution of
that antibody is then injected to the patient. There are two types of passive
immunity: artificial and natural. Naturally gained Passive Immunity takes place
when antibodies are passed from the mother into the foetal bloodstream and from
breast milk of the mother to a child.
You can acquire immunity in several ways. In case of diseases like measles and chicken pox, you acquire a lifelong immunity, once you are infected with the disease. You can also vaccinate yourself to protect from illness in future. Both forms of gaining immunity, either by vaccination or due to illness from a disease are examples of active immunity.
How to Improve Immunity of Your Body?
What is Passive Immunity: Definition and its Features
At times, weak immune systems do not let the
antibodies function properly. Routine vaccinations might fail to protect the
person from a disease organism. Once you have the antibody present in your body,
it shields you from the disease-causing organism.
A
newborn baby acquires passive immunity through the placenta of the mother. You
can also acquire passive immunity through a blood containing antibody. Immune
globulin can be induced in blood to generate immediate protection from a
specific disease. For example, passive immunisations of hepatitis A (a gamma
globulin) is given to travellers when they visit a hepatitis prone region.
Passive immunisation called “rabies” (rabies immune globulin) is given if you get bitten by any wild
animals.
In each
case, the protection is immediate and the antibodies work instantly to prevent
the disease. This is one of the major advantages of passive immunity as
compared to active immunity, which takes several weeks or months to develop.
Passive
immunity: Natural vs Artificial
Natural
passive immunity:
- During
the third trimester, infants acquire passive immunity from their mother through
the placenta. Antibodies and pathogen-fighting white cells cross the placenta
to reach the foetus and make them immune from certain diseases.
- Another
substance called the colostrum benefits infants. Infants receive colostrum
during the initial days of the nursing session before the mother starts
producing true breast milk. It is rich in antibodies and provides the necessary
protection to the infant. The breast milk also contains antibodies, but they
are not as rich in protective components as the colostrum.
This protection is extremely short-lived and supports the child for only for six months.
Artificial passive immunity
Artificial immunity is an immediate but short-term immunisation process. Antibodies such as gamma globulin, are first developed in another individual or animals and is then injected into the recipient. They are normally administered during a sudden outbreak of any particular disease or during emergency treatment for toxicity. E.g. tetanus.
Some of the artificially acquired immunity are:
- IG:
Immune globulins are used to prevent diseases like hepatitis A and measles. They
are also essential for preventing infections in people who have
immunodeficiency diseases.
- Human
HBIG: These prevent hepatitis B in individuals who are not actively immunised
with the HepB vaccine.
- Human
TIG: Helps to prevent tetanus to people who are not actively immunised with the
DTP, DTaP, or Td vaccines
- RhoGAM:
This prevents Rh haemolytic disease of newborns;
- VZIG:
Helps to prevent varicella
- CMV-IGIV
helps to prevent cytomegalovirus infections in highly immunosuppressed people
- RIG: It
is given along with active immunisation with the rabies vaccine to prevent
rabies
- The
antisera: It is used to prevent botulism
- IVIG
(intravenous immune globulin): It helps to reduce infections in individuals
with immunosuppressive diseases like primary immunodeficiency syndrome, chronic
lymphocytic leukaemia, immune thrombocytopenia purpura (ITP) and Kawasaki
disease
Natural
Active Immunity/Active Immunity: Definition and its features
Source: https://aidsinfo.nih.gov/understanding-hiv-aids/glossary/5/active-immunity
In case
of direct exposure to a disease, our body triggers the immune system to produce
antibodies. An active immunity results from exposure to the disease organism. This
last for almost a lifetime for every individual. This is also called natural active immunity as you come in
direct contact with the actual disease.
As soon
as the microbes penetrate your skin, mucous membrane or other primary defences,
it interacts with the immune system. The B cells of our body quickly produce
antibodies and respond to fight against the invading microbes. The adaptive
immune system may take days or weeks to develop, but once its generated, you
get along lasting or lifelong protection against it.
Active Immunity- The process
Typically,
when virus/bacteria enter an individual and it starts causing damage through
its constant reproduction. The damaged cells then release a signal to immune
cells to trigger that something is wrong. The immune cells then engulf the
foreign bodies by surrounding them from all sides. At the same time, antibodies
acquire information about the details of the disease-causing pathogens that
helps them to identify and restrict these organisms during a future attack.
It becomes a daunting task
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