Artificially acquired passive immunity provides temporary protection against diseases by introducing antibodies made by someone else directly into a person's body.
Understanding Artificially Acquired Passive Immunity
This type of immunity differs from the protection your body generates itself. Instead of the immune system learning to fight a pathogen, the fight is carried out by pre-made immune components.
Here's how it works:
- Injection or Transfusion: Protection is acquired by giving a person an injection or transfusion of antibodies.
- Antibodies from Another Source: These antibodies are not produced by the person receiving them but are antibodies made by someone else (or sometimes animals or created in a lab).
- Neutralizing Agents: These transferred antibodies work in the usual way by neutralising the infectious agents they are designed to target, preventing them from causing harm.
Why the Protection is Temporary
A key characteristic of artificially acquired passive immunity is its limited duration.
- Antibody Breakdown: The protection lasts only a few weeks.
- No Replacement: This is because the administered antibodies gradually break down within the body and are not replaced by the recipient's own immune system. The body does not develop memory cells or actively produce new antibodies against the pathogen through this method.
Essentially, it's like borrowing an umbrella during a sudden shower – you get protection, but you don't own the umbrella or learn how to make one for the future.
