Specific, Active, and Passive Immunity
I know what you’re thinking when you hear these words, “What do they mean??” Well it’s quite simple when you think about it. Specific immunity- you know when your body fights diseases, it’s fighting molecules that are not supposed to be there. Those are called antigens. They can be separate molecules or can be found on the surface of a pathogen. When your immune system detects molecules that are not supposed to be there, there is this signal and special lymphocytes called T cells respond. T cells are sort of like me but not exactly. You can say that they are my brothers. One type of T cells is killer T cells. They release enzymes that destroy those foreigners. Another type of T cells is helper T cells. They call other lymphocytes, known as B cells to form antibodies. Killer T cells, helper T cells and B cells are sort of like my cousins.
An antibody is a protein made in response to a pathogen. In other words, your immune system send out a message to an antibody to attack a pathogen and the antibody sucks out its power and makes it useless.
Another type of lymphocyte called memory B cells has antibodies for a specific pathogen. They stay in your blood so it could be ready to defend your body of that same pathogen.
Active immunity is when your body makes its own antibodies in response to an antigen. It is one of the ways that antibodies help your body build defenses. When a pathogen invades your body and multiplies, you get sick. Your body makes antibodies and you get better again. Most antibodies stay in your blood and quickly multiply and are prepared if that pathogen enters your body again. This is why you only get chicken pox once, but the only reason you get a cold so many times is that there are many cold viruses that give you similar symptoms. This is why scientists are looking for a cure for the common cold.
Passive Immunity is the other way antibodies help your body build defenses. It doesn’t last as long as active immunity does. An example of passive immunity is when you are born; your mom has all the antibodies and passes it to you but after a few months it wears off and you need to get vaccinated to make your own immunity.
Koch’s rules
Many diseases are caused by pathogens can be treated with medicine. In many cases, these organisms need to be identified before specific treatment can begin. Louis Pasteur many have shown that bacteria can cause diseases but didn’t know what specific organism causes which diseases. It wasn’t until a German doctor, Robert Koch was the first person to develop a way to isolate and grow one type of bacterium.
How diseases spread
A disease that is caused by a virus, bacterium, protist, or fungus and is spread from an infected organism or the environment to another organism is called an infectious disease. They can be spread by water, air, food, and contact of contaminated objects. They are also called biological vectors. People are also carrier of diseases. If you have the flu and you sneezed, you expel thousands of virus particles in the air.
Sexually Transmitted Diseases
Infectious diseases that are passed from one person to another by sexual contact are also known as STDs which are caused by bacteria and viruses.
Bacterial STDs are STDs that are caused by bacteria. Such as Gonorrhea, Syphilis and more. A person can get the disease before symptoms arrive so it is a good idea to get yourself checked every month or so.
Viral STDs are STDs which are viral. Like Genital herpes, which is a lifelong disease. With painful blisters. It hides in your body for long periods of time and there is no way to cure it.
Hiv and your immune system
HIV can exist in your blood and body fluids. This virus can hid in your cells, maybe even for year and you may not even know it. You can get HIV by having sex with a person who does have it or reusing a HIV- contaminated needle. Also a pregnant female who has this disease may also pass it down to her child. HIV cannot multiply outside the body. You cannot also get it by simply touching the person or touching something that the person with the disease has touched unless it is contaminated with body fluids.
Aids are a HIV infection that leads to it. It can attack your body’s immune system. HIV is different than other viruses. It attacks the helper T cells and then enters the T cell and multiples. The cell may burst and infect other T cells. Now it cannot produce B cells and your immune system is very weak. After that it can lead to AIDS and could get worse. You cannot die from AIDS but you can die from the diseases it causes.
Word search!!!!
____________ Complex group of defenses
____________ Molecules that is foreign to your body
____________ Protein made in response to a specific antigen
____________ Body makes its own antibodies
____________ When antibodies produced by another animal
_________ Minute piece of genetic makeup
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IPASSIVEIMMUNITYBVJRGHNFHJGJ
BADEYSRYEPLAYLANDHFNFHYYHJF
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DNIMRAHSHOHOHJDJRYTWNDTGFN
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