Immunity

CSEC

Jul 19, 2023

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In this note, we briefly go over the basic concept of Immunity.

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This is the engulfing of foreign particles together with digesting them, hence making the particles inactive.
This is done by Phagocytes (one of the 2 types of white blood cells).

Phagocyte

Natural Passive Immunity - Short lived immunity is passed from mother to a child. The child, however, does not know how to make the antibodies.
Natural Active Immunity - The body now makes its own anti-bodies to fight antigens which come from foreign organisms.

Artificial Passive Immunity - This is the case when a person is administered 'already made' anti-bodies. The body did not make these anti-bodies. A popular example of this type of immunity is anti-venin for snake bites.
Artificial Active Immunity - This is when a person is given/administered a weak version of the foreign organism (the expected organism through which a person wants immunity for), so the body can make and produce its own anti-bodies. A recent example is the Coronavirus Vaccines.