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Introduction
Immunity is the ability of the body to defend itself against infectious diseases. Your immune system can fight infection from a disease if you are immune to it.
Immunity can be innate or acquired. Natural or genetic immunity, often known as innate immunity, is immunity that an organism is born with. The immunity of this type is inherited from one’s parents. An organism’s genetic immunity protects them for the rest of their lives. Innate immunity is made up of the following components:
External defenses: External defenses, often known as the first line of defense, protect an organism against pathogen exposure. Skin, tears, and stomach acid are examples of external defenses.
Internal defenses: Once a pathogen has entered the body, internal defenses act as a second line of defense. Inflammation and fevers are examples of internal defenses.
The third layer of protection is adaptive immunity, also known as acquired immunity. An organism’s adaptive immunity defends it from a specific infection. Adaptive immunity is divided into two categories: active immunity and passive immunity.
Active Immunity
“Active immunity” refers to a person’s body’s immediate response to infections. It is also induced when exposed to a foreign antigen, such as the antigen found in microorganisms. It also refers to a person’s adaptive reaction after coming into touch with a certain infection or antigen. Furthermore, immunity does not develop instantly when a person is exposed to a disease. As a result, it could take days or weeks to manifest after the initial exposure. However, once it develops, its protection can last a lifetime. Furthermore, it can occur in one of two ways: naturally or by immunization.
Natural immunity is obtained by being subjected to the sickness organism and then becoming infected with the disease.
vaccinated immunity is established by injecting a killed or weakened version of the disease organism into the body.
In either case, if an immune individual comes into touch with the disease again in the future, their immune system will recognize it and develop the antibodies necessary to combat it. Active immunity lasts a long period, maybe even a lifetime.
Artificial active immunity system
Artificial active immunization involves when a microbe, or pieces of a germ, is injected into a person before naturally absorbing it. If whole microorganisms are employed, they are attenuated vaccinations pre-treated. This vaccination boosts the recipient’s primary immune response to the antigen without triggering illness symptoms.
Properties
Immune health is based on four principles:
- The ability to detect and fight infection
- The ability to recognise a host’s cells as “self,” thereby protecting them from attack
- The ability to remember previous foreign infections
- The power to restrict the response after the pathogen has been removed
Passive Immunity
Passive immunity is immunity conferred by an individual through the transmission of serum or lymphocytes. They also get it from someone who is highly vaccinated. Furthermore, it is a very useful way for giving resistance without having to wait for the active immune response to develop. Furthermore, passive immunity does not necessitate prior disease agent exposure. It also takes effect instantly and without delay. Furthermore, it is short-lived. In other words, it may only last a few months.
Through the placenta, a newborn baby gains natural passive immunity from its mother.
Passive immunity can also be obtained through antibody-containing blood products such as immune globulin, which can be administered when rapid protection against a specific disease is required.
providing instant protection is the main advantage of passive immunity, whereas active immunity takes time to develop (typically several weeks). On the other hand, passive immunity only lasts a few weeks or months. active immunity is a long-lasting
System of artificial passive immunity
Artificial passive immunisation is generally given as an injection. It is utilized in cases where there has been a recent disease outbreak or as an emergency therapy for toxicity, such as tetanus. Animals can create antibodies, known as “serum therapy,” albeit there is a substantial risk of anaphylactic shock due to immunity to animal serum. If fully human antibodies generated in vitro through cell culture are available, they are employed instead.
Properties
- Protection Duration: Protection for the time being
- Antibodies are delivered to the host from a different source
- Immunological memory: Immunological memory is not generated
- Response time: It has a quicker response time
- When it is administered externally, it may cause specific negative effects
Acquired or Adaptive Immunity
It’s an immune system made up of highly specialized systemic cells and mechanisms that kill pathogens and stop them from spreading. It’s the body’s third line of defense, created when it comes into contact with foreign chemicals. It adjusts to the sort of threat we are exposed to; during the second encounter, it generates lymphocytes and antibodies specific to infections, but during the first exposure, it makes lymphocytes and antibodies that are not. It takes longer to work but is more effective than innate immunity.
Because lymphocytes and antibodies are present to destroy infections, immunological memory of the first interaction is created during the second exposure. In the same way, for subsequent exposures.
Lymphocytes are divided into two types: B lymphocytes and T lymphocytes.
- B-lymphocyte-mediated anti-tumor immunity
T-lymphocytes provide cellular immunity.
B lymphocytes create antibodies that trap antigens on the surface of germs or pathogens in Humoral immunity. On the second exposure, antigen-specific antibodies are produced.
T-lymphocytes are made up of two types of cells: helper T cells (CD4 cytotoxic) and killer T cells (CD8 cytotoxic).
Active Immunity and Passive Immunity- Differences
Following are the important difference between active and passive immunity:
Active Immunity | Passive Immunity |
Active immunity is usually long-lasting, as the host’s antibodies form it in response to direct antigen interaction | Passive immunity is only beneficial for a few weeks or months at most. Antibodies cause it into the host from the outside. |
It results in the building of immunological memory. | It does not affect immunological memory. |
Antibodies and some other specific lymphocytes are created when antigens enter the body. | Antibodies are brought in from a different source. Antibodies are introduced to a fetus through the placenta and a child through the mother’s milk. |
There are no negative side effects | It has the potential to produce responses |
Immunity does not develop overnight. | Immunity develops quickly |
Conclusion
Passive immunity refers to the transfer of antibodies from one person to another. In general, active immunity refers to the process of exposing an individual to an antigen to produce an adaptive immune response. Passive immunity offers instant but temporary protection, extending from a few weeks to three or four months. Passive immunity develops naturally when maternal antibodies are delivered to the fetus through the placenta or from breast milk to the infant’s stomach. It can also be made artificially by transferring antibody preparations taken from vaccinated donors’ sera or secretions, or, more recently, various antibody-producing platforms, via systemic or mucosal routes.
