The body's defenses work against pathogens, infections and viruses. Distinguish passive immunity, when antibodies are already present and protect. Active, on the other hand, works when a person's body produces cells as a result of a reaction to a disease or a vaccine.
Types of defense mechanisms
The body's general resistance to infections occurs under the influence of two components:
- immunity is passive;
- active defensive forces.
The functionality of the barrier against bacteria is to produce specific lymphocytes. The latter are quantified by laboratory methods. Passive immunity is described by antibodies IgM, IgG.
Doctors use the term "avidity" - the strength of the bonds between antibodies and antigens. The characteristic is needed to determine the body's ability to resist the current infection. If the results are negative, therapy is carried out to increase passive artificial immunity.
Active Protection
Immunity is passivealready present in the body, while the active component is produced by the body against the pathogen:
- vaccine;
- cells of a virus or other infection.
Active immunity is divided by the method of education:
- natural - antibodies are produced by fighting disease-causing cells;
- artificial - occurs after the introduction of the vaccine.
2 barriers are built before infections. Cells of natural immunity, wandering around the body, directly destroy bacteria. The non-immune system is a set of additional functions. This includes the skin, mucous membranes.
The main element of protection is located in the intestines. The mucosa destroys harmful microorganisms that enter the body through the esophagus. Therefore, it is required to maintain a he althy state of microflora.
The condition of the internal mucous membranes is affected by many factors: proper sleep, nutrition, illness, stress, heat stroke. When pathogens do pass the defense, antibodies begin to cope with foreign objects. Natural or acquired immunity becomes the last resort to cleanse the body of aggression.
Inactive protection
Passive artificial immunity in humans begins to develop in the following cases:
- gamma globulins circulate in the blood when serum is administered;
- antibodies got along with someone else's blood during a transfusion.
A similar condition is observed innewborns. Gamma globulins are passed to the child from the mother. A protective mechanism is developed only for those diseases and infections that a woman has already had or has been vaccinated against.
Passive artificial immunity differs from active immunity in that it disappears over time. In newborns, the protective forces received from the mother fade in six months. A similar effect is observed when serum is administered, antibodies protect while gamma globulin cells circulate in the blood.
Ways to support the body
An active lifestyle boosts immunity. Passive, on the other hand, reduces metabolic processes in the body and promotes colonization by pathogenic microorganisms. Harmful substances have a negative effect: alcoholic beverages, tobacco smoke.
To increase the tone of the body using natural lactobacilli. Follow a therapeutic diet. Pharmaceutical preparations are selected together with an immunologist. You can control the state of the body by laboratory tests for immunoglobulins. In chronic infectious diseases, this measure becomes essential.
There are several types of activation of immunity against a specific disease:
- toxoids - vaccination with bacterial toxins (medication is effective against tetanus, whooping cough);
- inactivated vaccination - more often performed against influenza, based on killed bacteria, also works against tick-borne encephalitis, tetanus;
- living cells of infections - weakenedmicroorganisms activate the body's defenses.
Note
Natural passive immunity is formed on a specific disease, poison, virus. The body adapts to changing conditions, secretes protective cells - lymphocytes. Artificial antibodies are injected and last for a short time.
With the natural transfer of antibodies to the child from the mother, the baby acquires protection for up to six months. Given the careful attitude of parents towards babies, the risks of getting sick at an early age are reduced.
Mothers pass on protection to their children from a set of past infections. This happens during the formation of the fetus, as well as during breastfeeding. Therefore, doctors do not recommend early abandonment of breastfeeding, because it is in the first months that immunity is formed.
