Principles of Immunisation

Question 1

What does natural passive immunity involve?

Answer 1

Placental transfer of IgG Colostral transfer of IgA - yellowish liquid secreted by the mammary gland

Question 2

What are the advantages and disadvantages of passive immunity?

Answer 2

Advantages 
      - Immediate protection 
Disadvantages 
      - Short term effect
      - no immunological memory 
      Serum Sickness 
       - body recognises antibody as foreign 
       - anaphylaxis

Question 3

What is passive immunity ?

Answer 3

This type of immunisation gives quick and immediate protection but does not create memory. It involves inoculating the patient with antibodies specific to the pathogen.

Question 4

What is Human Normal Immunoglobulin ?

Answer 4

Contains all antibodies from an unselected pool of random blood donors

Question 5

What is Human Specific Immunoglobulin ?

Answer 5

Blood donors selected have a high antibody level against the target organism

Question 6

What is active immunity ?

Answer 6

This type of immunity is brought about by a foreign antigen triggering an adaptive immune response within the body. This creates immunological memory. The initial response is quite slow, but it provides quicker defence against recurring infections by the same pathogen.

Question 7

What are the vaccines which bring about active immunity ?

Answer 7

• Live organism (Attenuated)
• Killed organism (inactivated)
• Toxoid (modified toxin)
• Recombinant : Genetically altered. Antigen coding gene is removed and placed into yeast chromosome.
• Conjugate : Some micro organisms have their key antigen as a carbohydrate. These aren’t good antigens, so binding them to a protein makes them easier to detect by the body