Artificially acquired passive immunity

(noun)

A short-lived form of immunity gained from transfer of antibodies produced by another organism. 

Examples of Artificially acquired passive immunity in the following topics:

  • Artificial Immunity

    • Artificial immunity is a mean by which the body is given immunity to a disease by intentional exposure to small quantities of it.
    • Artificially-acquired passive immunity is an immediate, but short-term immunization provided by the injection of antibodies, such as gamma globulin, that are not produced by the recipient's cells.
    • Artificial passive immunization is normally administered by injection and is used if there has been a recent outbreak of a particular disease or as an emergency treatment for toxicity, as in for tetanus.
    • The first record of artificial immunity was in relation to a disease known as smallpox.
    • Passive immunity is short lived, and usually lasts only a few months, whereas protection via active immunity lasts much longer, and is sometimes life-long.

  • Natural Passive Immunity

    • Naturally acquired passive immunity occurs during pregnancy, when antibodies are passed from the maternal blood into the fetal bloodstream.
    • There are two ways to acquire passive resistance against disease: passive natural and passive artificial.
    • Naturally acquired passive immunity occurs during pregnancy, in which certain antibodies are passed from the maternal blood into the fetal bloodstream in the form of IgG.
    • Passive immunity can also be in the form of IgA and IgG found in human colostrum and milk of babies who are nursed.
    • IgA antibodies are transferred from mother to child in colostrum and milk and confer passive immunity.

  • Active and Passive Humoral Immunity

    • Artificial active immunity is the result of vaccination.
    • Passive immunity can occur naturally or artificially.
    • Maternal passive immunity is a type of naturally-acquired passive immunity, and refers to antibody-mediated immunity conveyed to a fetus by its mother during pregnancy.
    • Artificially-acquired passive immunity is a short-term immunization achieved by the transfer of antibodies, and can be administered in several forms: as human or animal blood (usually horse) plasma or serum, as pooled human immunoglobulin for intravenous (IVIG) or intramuscular (IG) use, and as monoclonal antibodies (MAb).
    • This chart depicts the different divisions of immunity, including adaptive, innate, natural, artificial, passive (maternal), active (infection), passive (antibody transfer) and active (immunization).

  • Overview of the Immune System

    • This process of acquired immunity is the basis of vaccination.
    • Naturally acquired immunity occurs through contact with a disease causing agent, when the contact was not deliberate, whereas artificially acquired immunity develops only through deliberate actions such as vaccination.
    • Both naturally and artificially acquired immunity can be further subdivided depending on whether immunity is induced in the host or passively transferred from an immune host.
    • Passive immunity is acquired through transfer of antibodies or activated T cells from an immune host, and is short lived—usually lasting only a few months.
    • Both natural and artificial immunity can be further subdivided, depending on the amount of time the protection lasts.

  • Passive Immunization

    • Passive immunization can be exogenously administered (artificial) or transferred from mother to fetus (natural).
    • There are two types of passive immunity: artificial and natural .
    • Artificial passive immunity is achieved by infusion of serum or plasma containing high concentrations of antibody.
    • Passive immunity can also be acquired naturally by the fetus due to the transfer of antibodies by the maternal circulation in utero through the placenta around the third month of gestation.
    • Describe how artificial and natural passive immunity function to provide antibody protection against microorganisms

  • Overview of Adaptive Immunity

    • The adaptive immune system works to protect and heal the body when the innate immune system fails.
    • The adaptive immune system starts to work after the innate immune system is activated.
    • Immunological memory can either be in the form of passive short-term memory or active long-term memory.
    • Passive memory is usually short-term, lasting between a few days and several months, and is particularly important for newborn infants, who are given passive memory from maternal antibodies and immune cells before birth.
    • Active immunity is generally long-term and can be acquired by infection followed by B cells and T cells activation, or artificially acquired by vaccines in a process called immunization.

  • Immunological Memory

    • Thus, the mother protects the infant through several layers of passive protection.
    • Since the fetus isn't making any memory cells or antibodies, this is called passive immunity.
    • Passive immunity is short-lived, ranging from a couple days to a couple months.
    • Following an infection, long-term active memory is acquired by activation of B and T cells.
    • Vaccinations take advantage of memory lymphocyte development by artificially-generating active immunity, a process called immunization.

  • Natural Active Immunity

    • Naturally acquired active immunity occurs when a person is exposed to a live pathogen, develops the disease, and then develops immunity.
    • There are two ways to acquire active resistance against invading microbes: active natural and active artificial.
    • Naturally acquired active immunity occurs when the person is exposed to a live pathogen, develops the disease, and becomes immune as a result of the primary immune response.
    • In a similar manner, administration of two doses of hepatitis A vaccine generates an acquired active immune response leading to long-lasting (possibly lifelong) protection.
    • The principle behind immunization is to introduce an antigen, derived from a disease-causing organism, that stimulates the immune system to develop protective immunity against that organism, but which does not itself cause the pathogenic effects of that organism.

  • Development of the Immune System

    • In fact, many of the infections acquired by neonates are caused by low-virulence organisms like staphylococcus and pseudomonas.
    • Maternal factors also play a role in the body's immune response.
    • These passively acquired antibodies can protect the newborn for up to 18 months, but their response is usually short-lived and of low affinity.
    • Passively acquired maternal antibodies can suppress the antibody response to active immunization.
    • By 6 to 9 months after birth, a child's immune system begins to respond more strongly to glycoproteins.

  • Tetanus

    • Infection can be prevented by proper immunization and by post-exposure prophylaxis.
    • Unlike many infectious diseases, recovery from naturally acquired tetanus does not usually result in immunity to tetanus.
    • This is due to the extreme potency of the tetanospasmin toxin; even a lethal dose of tetanospasmin is insufficient to provoke an immune response.Tetanus can be prevented by vaccination with tetanus toxoid.
    • To combat the effects of the toxin, tetanus immune globulin (TIG) antitoxin can be given to the patient.
    • These antibodies are able to neutralize the tetanospasmin if they are not already bound to motor neurons, and can confer passive immunity.