Immunity is the body's defense system against external influences. The term itself comes from a Latin word that translates as "liberation" or "getting rid of something." Hippocrates called it "the self-healing power of the organism", and Paracelsus called it "healing energy". First of all, you should understand the terms associated with the main defenders of our body.
Natural and acquired immunity
Even in ancient times, doctors were aware of human immunity to animal diseases. For example, plague in dogs or chicken cholera. This is called innate immunity. It is given to a person from birth and does not disappear throughout life.
The second type of immunity appears in a person only after he has undergone a disease. For example, typhus and scarlet fever were the first infections to which doctors discovered resistance. During the disease process, the body creates antibodies that protect it from certain microbes andviruses.
The great importance of immunity is that after the cure, the body is already ready to meet re-infection. Contributing to this:
- preserving the antibody model for life;
- recognition of the "familiar" disease by the body and the rapid organization of defense.
There is a milder way to acquire immunity - it's a vaccine. There is no need to fully experience the disease. It is enough to introduce a weakened disease into the blood in order to "teach" the body to fight it. If you want to know what the discovery of immunity gave mankind, you should first find out the chronology of discoveries.
A bit of history
The first inoculation was made in 1796. Edward Gener was convinced that artificially infecting smallpox with cow's blood was the best way to acquire immunity. And in India and China, people were infected with smallpox long before they began to do it in Europe.
In the 90s of the XIX century, Emil von Behring published the data of his work. They reported that in order to acquire immunity, it is enough to infect an animal not with whole diphtheria bacteria, but only with some toxins isolated from them.
Preparations made from the blood of such animals became known as serums. They were the first remedy for diseases, which gave mankind the discovery of immunity.
Serum as a last chance
If a person falls ill and cannot cope with the disease on his own, he is injected with serum. It contains ready-made antibodies that the bodythe patient for some reason cannot work out on his own.
These are extreme measures, they are only necessary if the patient's life is in danger. Serum antibodies are obtained from the blood of animals that are already immune to the disease. They get it after vaccination.
The most important thing that gave humanity the discovery of immunity is an understanding of the work of the organism as a whole. Scientists have finally understood how antibodies appear and what they are for.
Antibodies - fighters against dangerous toxins
Antitoxin is a substance that neutralizes the waste products of bacteria. It appeared in the blood only in the case of contact with these dangerous compounds. Then all such substances began to be called a general term - "antibodies".
Nobel Laureate in Chemistry Arne Tiselius experimentally proved that antibodies are ordinary proteins, only having a large molecular weight. And two other scientists - Edelman and Porter - deciphered the structure of several of them. It turned out that the antibody consists of four proteins: two heavy and two light. The molecule itself is shaped like a slingshot.
And later, Susumo Tonegawa showed the amazing ability of our genome. The sections of DNA that are responsible for the synthesis of antibodies can change in every cell of the body. And they are always ready, in case of any danger they can change so that the cell begins to produce protective proteins. That is, the body is always ready to give birth to many differentantibodies. This variety more than covers the number of possible alien influences.
The meaning of opening immunity
The very discovery of immunity and all the theories put forward about its action have allowed scientists and doctors to better understand the structure of our body, the mechanisms of its reactions to viruses and pathogenic bacteria. This helped to defeat such a terrible disease as smallpox. And then vaccines were found for tetanus, measles, tuberculosis, whooping cough and many others.
All these advances in medicine have made it possible to greatly increase the average life expectancy of a person and improve the quality of medical care.
In order to better understand what the discovery of immunity gave mankind, it is enough to read about life in the Middle Ages, when there were no vaccinations and sera. Look how dramatically medicine has changed, and how much better and safer life has become!
But there are still many discoveries and achievements in the study of the human body. And each person is able to contribute to the future of mankind. It is enough to have an elementary understanding of the most important issues in biology and to know how the history of the discovery of immunity has developed in order to share it with your children and friends. Perhaps you can awaken a new generation of interest in science!
