2C Immunity & Vaccines Flashcards
What is active immunity?
When the immune system makes its own antibodies after being stimulated by an antigen
What are the two types of active immunity and describe them.
> NATURAL - becoming immune after getting a disease
> ARTIFICIAL - becoming immune after receiving a vaccination containing a harmless dose of antigen
What is passive immunity?
Receive antibodies produced by a different organism as the body doesn’t produce any antibodies of its own
What are the two types of passive immunity?
> NATURAL - Baby becomes immune due to the antibodies it receives from its mother through the placenta/breast milk
ARTIFICIAL - Become immune after being injected with antibodies from someone else
What is a vaccine?
An injection/oral dose of antigens that cause the body to produce memory cells against the pathogen without it causing disease
What is herd immunity?
When vaccinations to some members of the populations reduces the occurrence and spread of the disease so those who aren’t vaccinated are also protected
What are the issues with receiving vaccines orally?
> can be broken down in the gut
> molecules may be too large to get absorbed into the gut
What are 5 ethical issues of vaccination?
> all vaccines are tested on animals
animal-based substances are sometimes used to produce the vaccine
testing on humans can be risky as the disease can be contracted
some people don’t want it due to the risk of side effects
some individuals can’t receive a vaccine for religious/medical reasonse
What is antigenic variation?
When different surface antigens are formed due to changes in the genes of a pathogen as a result of processes like mutation
What effect does antigenic variation have on the immune response?
A primary response to the antigen is triggered again as antibodies on the memory cells from the first infection won’t be complementary to the new antigen so a secondary response can’t occur
