Passive Immunity

Innate immunity refers to nonspecific defense mechanisms that come into play immediately or within hours of an antigen's appearance in the body. Adaptive immunity refers to antigen-specific immune response.

Describe how and why both types of adaptive immunity can cause problems with organ transplantation.

The immune system of a 3-week old infant is immature with limited antibody production. “A system of active transport facilitates the passage of maternal antibodies into the fetal circulation to protect the child against infectious agents in utero and during the first few postnatal months”(McCance & Huether, 2014, p. 257). It is divided into two systems:

This is immunity that is acquired by the transfer of anitbodies from one individual to another. For example, from a mother to her offspring.

Acquired immunity is a type of immunity also known as the third line of defence, it is the immunity produced when the human body has been infected by an antigen which triggers the production of antibodies. There are two types of acquired immunity which are active and passive acquired immunity.

Vaccinations are produced by developing a live, but weakened or inactive form of a disease. This weakened form of the disease, is then introduced into the body via injection, inhalation, or ingestion. Providing the body with this inactive version of the disease, the body’s natural defense mechanisms are triggered and begin creating antibodies against the disease, which in turn, allows

262). Vaccinations work by using two forms of immunity, active and passive. Active immunity occurs when the immune system is triggered by a person receiving a vaccination to produce antibodies for a specific disease process as if they have contracted the actual disease. From this point on if the person is exposed to someone infected with the disease their body will recognize it and release antibodies to fight against it. In contrast, passive immunity does not result from the person themselves receiving the vaccination but rather from antibodies a baby receives through the placenta from its mother. Passive immunity generally lasts from a few months to a year at the most which will cover children until they are able to receive their own immunizations. Children are the on the front line when it comes to spreading and preventing contagious

“Vaccines are meant to be given when they can provide the most protection at a time when babies are the most vulnerable to disease” -Angie Matthiessen, (Iliades, Chris). Infants should receive around seven immunization shots by the time they are two months old. Most of these shots can be administered at the same time, which raises a lot of questions. However, knowing more about vaccines/immunizations and what they are made of, as well as their purpose can help when making decisions about vaccinating a child or not. The antigens in vaccines come from the germs of the virus themselves. This allows the body to recognize the germs as bad, and to help our cells to start fighting off the invading germs. The reason that the disease is not contracted when the doctor injects the germ is because the germs used are weakened or killed, so they cannot cause serious illness (Infant Immunization). The purpose of an immunization is to introduce a germ to the body, which will signal the white blood cells to get rid of any disease. Once this has happened, if the body is ever introduced to a germ from that particular disease again, the white blood cells will have a chance to shut down the germ before the disease spreads. Some ingredients in vaccines are thimerosal,, aluminum salts, sugars/gelatin, egg protein, formaldehyde, and neomycin. All of these ingredients

Vaccinations/Immunization, allows for individuals to become resistant to infection, caused by a pathogen. Vaccines, either oral or injected, are prepared with a weakened or dead disease causing microorganisms /pathogens. This vaccine is given with the intensions of provoking a immune response to the disease, on a minor level. This vaccination allows for the immune response to create antibodies, and memory cells, so that if infected with a strong version of the pathogen, the body will be immune.

Conventional thought is that the earlier a child receives vaccination, the earlier they start to build anti-bodies, preventing the child from ever contracting an active form of the disease (Miller 167). This is contradicting to the rational used to promote breast feeding. Health care professionals teach the importance of breast feeding because infants have immature immune systems and need the mother’s anti-bodies from breast milk to keep them healthy. If an infant’s immune system is not strong enough handle the regular Bactria and viruses of the world, how can the same immature immune system build up anti-bodies from a vaccine within hours after birth?

Today, there are roughly one hundred vaccines licensed for immunization and distribution in the U.S. Out of the one hundred, they are classified as either passive or active immunizations. In passive immunization, antibodies against a specific infectious organism are given directly to a person. These antibodies are obtained from several sources. The

The last few decades have brought concern over the safety of routine vaccinations, leaving parents with a difficult choice; vaccinate their children and hope they will not develop complications or depend on herd immunity to protect them from various diseases. Herd immunity works on the basis that the majority of the population has been properly vaccinated, thereby diminishing the amount of potential carriers of a disease and protecting the unvaccinated individuals from coming in direct contact with a carrier (Fefferman and Naumova). What happens to unvaccinated people when they are exposed to these preventable diseases?

This is the power which an animal possesses to resist disease. Immunity may be natural or acquired that is, an animal may possess immunity when born or they may acquire immunity after wards (Donaldson.,1903). Swine possess a natural immunity towards blackleg. Calves do not

Innate immunity refers to antigen-nonspecific defence mechanisms that a host uses immediately or within several hours after exposure to an antigen. This is the immunity that you are born with, and is the initial response by the body to eliminate

The current assumption is that the protection afforded via these vaccines is antibody mediated since passive immunisation is protective in animal models [26, 27]. HPV L1 VLP vaccines are highly immunogenic generating antibody concentrations after the 3rd immunisation that are 1-4 logs higher than those in natural infections [32, 33]. In published studies serum neutralising antibody persists with geometric mean titres (GMTs) about 1 log greater than natural infection for the 7-9 year duration of the published studies, [34, 35]. Mathematical modelling predicts slow decay of antibody over a 30-50 year period and potentially, therefore, protection over that time [36, 37]. Both type specific and cross neutralising antibodies are generated by VLP vaccines although concentrations of cross neutralising species are on average 1-2 logs lower than type specific [38]. At the present there is no immune correlate, no antibody concentration (or other immune measurement) has been defined that correlates with protection. However other than information on antibody concentration (both IgG and neutralising) there is little published data on other parameters such antibody affinity and avidity maturation that may be relevant in this context. Early reports indicate that avidity maturation does not correlate with antibody concentration or circulating memory B cells [39].