Immunity - a system of protecting the body from external influences. The term itself comes from the Latin word translating as “liberation” or “deliverance from something.” Hippocrates called it "the self-healing power of the body," 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, dog plague 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 suffers a disease. For example, typhoid and scarlet fever are the first infections that doctors have discovered resistance to. In the process of the disease, the body creates antibodies that protect it from certain microbes and viruses.
The great importance of immunity is that after cure, the body is already ready to meet re-infection. This contributes to:
- maintaining a model of antibodies for life;
- recognition by the body of a "familiar" disease and the rapid organization of defense.
There is a milder way to gain immunity - this is a vaccine. There is no need to fully survive the disease. It is enough to introduce a weakened disease into the blood to "teach" the body to fight it. If you want to know what gave the discovery of immunity to humanity, you should first find out the chronology of discoveries.
A bit of history
The first vaccine was given in 1796. Edward Gener was convinced that artificial smallpox infection from cow blood is the best option for acquiring immunity. And in India and China, people were infected with smallpox long before it began to be done in Europe.
In the 90s of the XIX century, Emil von Bering published the data of his works. They reported that 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 became the first cure for disease, which gave mankind the discovery of immunity.
Whey 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 patient’s body cannot develop on its own for any reason.
These are extreme measures, they are necessary only if the patient’s life is in danger. Antibodies for serum are obtained from the blood of animals that already have immunity to this disease. They get it after vaccination.
The most important thing that gave mankind the discovery of immunity is an understanding of the body as a whole. Scientists have finally realized how antibodies appear and why they are needed.
Antibodies - fighters against dangerous toxins
An antitoxin was called a substance that neutralizes the vital products of bacteria. It appeared in the blood only in case of ingress of these dangerous compounds. Then all these substances began to be called a generic term - "antibodies".
Arne Tizelius, Nobel Laureate in Chemistry, experimentally proved that antibodies are ordinary proteins with only 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 resembles a slingshot in shape.
And later, Susumo Tonegawa showed the amazing ability of our genome. The DNA regions that are responsible for the synthesis of antibodies can change in every cell in the body. And they are always ready, in any danger they can change so that the cell begins to produce protective proteins. That is, the body is always ready to produce many different antibodies. This diversity more than covers the number of possible foreign influences.
The significance of the discovery of immunity
The very discovery of immunity and all the theories put forward about its action 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 significantly increased 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 to humanity, it is enough to read about life in the Middle Ages, when there were no vaccinations and serums. See how dramatically medicine has changed, and how much better and safer it has become to live!
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 basic ideas about the most important issues of biology and to know how the history of the discovery of immunity developed in order to share this with your children and friends. Perhaps you can arouse interest in science in a new generation!