Immunity is protection from infectious diseases provided by the immune system. There are three categories of immune protection: innate or acquired, active or passive, and natural or artificial. Immunity can be improved through various means, such as sanitation, diet, and pest control.
Immunity is a state in which the body is protected from infectious diseases. It is contributed by the immune system, a complex network of cells, tissues and chemicals that fight infection and kill organisms when they invade the body. There are three categories of immune protection, which help protect the body from infectious diseases. It can be innate or acquired, active or passive, natural or artificial. These categories can be mixed and matched to produce, for example, natural or artificial passive immune protection.
The category of innate or acquired protection refers to the type of immune response that is mounted by the immune system. An innate immune response is not specific to the pathogen the system is responding to and occurs almost immediately when an infectious organism invades the body. In contrast, an acquired immune response is specific to the pathogen and can take several days to build up. The acquired immune response also involves the development of immunological memory, a state in which the immune system can rapidly mount a response to an infectious organism it has previously encountered.
Active or passive immune protection is determined by how the protection is conferred. Active protection is conferred by contact with an infectious organism or a vaccine. This causes an active immune response in the person who comes into contact with the body. Passive immunity refers to the fact that an individual is protected, even if their immune system has not developed a response. For example, transplacental transfer of antibodies from mother to child is a type of passive immune protection. Another example is the transfer of antibodies from mother to child in breast milk.
The third category, natural or artificial immunity, refers to whether protection has developed with or without intervention. For example, transplacental antibody transfer is a natural process, because it has occurred exclusively through an interaction between mother and fetus. If, after the baby was born, an injection of antibodies was given, this would be an example of artificial protection, because the antibodies were removed from one individual, purified, then injected into another. Vaccination is another example of artificial immune protection and is also an example of active acquired protection.
Vaccination and passive immune treatments are not the only ways to confer immune protection. It can be improved in many other ways, as has been shown throughout history. For example, improvements in sanitation, diet, and pest control have contributed to reduced disease severity and increased life expectancy enjoyed by people in developed countries today, compared with several hundred Years ago.
Protect your devices with Threat Protection by NordVPN
