Difference Between Specific And Non Specific Immunity Essay

IMMUNITY

IMMUNITY

The human body has the ability to fight against any microorganism that attacks the system and hence is capable of protecting itself from numbers of diseases. The body has two types of immunity, the specific and the non specific one. The non specific one is basically the innate ability of the body to fight against any invading antigen. These defenses are the natural protective layer the body has, for example, the skin and the mucous membrane. The skin acts as a barrier to millions of microbes that are surrounding us all along. Similarly, the mucous membrane has certain substances in it that prevents further entry of the microbes in the body. There are three types of defenses that protect the invasion of organisms. first, anatomical barriers, these are the barriers that are part of our anatomical structure like layer of skin, mucous membrane, enzymes, normal flora of gut, coagulation system, complement system, macrophages and other inflammatory cells. The other type, which is the specific immunity, is a feature of the vertebrates only. It is more target specific unlike the non specific one. Lymphocytes are the key element for this type of immunity. There are further subtypes of lymphocytes, out of which the B and T cells are the most important ones. When the T cell recognizes the presence of an antigen in the blood, it signals the B cells which then start producing antibodies to combat the entry of the antigen. (Historyofvaccines.org, 2015). The specific immunity is further classified into active and passive form. In the active form the body produces the antibodies for itself and fights the antigen. Whereas in passive immunity, antibodies are introduced into the body of the patient which are either obtained from some other human being or from some other animal.
The vaccines actually induce this specific response in the body. While vaccinating, a weakened form of the antigen is injected in the body. These antigens are not strong enough to initiate any disease, but are capable enough to initiate the production of antibodies by the B cells. These antibodies are stored in the immune response and on further exposure to the same antigen they come into play and combat the antigen attack. This ability of the antibodies to recognize the antigen even after years is also called as immunologic memory (Immune.org.nz, 2015).

References

Historyofvaccines.org,. (2015). The Human Immune System and Infectious Disease — History of Vaccines. Retrieved 3 March 2015, from http://www.historyofvaccines.org/content/articles/human-immune-system-and-infectious-disease
Immune.org.nz,. (2015). The immune system and vaccination | Immunisation Advisory Centre. Retrieved 3 March 2015, from http://www.immune.org.nz/immune-system-and-vaccination