It may seem strange to say, but our immune systems are war machines. By using while blood cells produced by the tissues of the lymphatic system, it militarizes our body to confront aggressors: bacteria, parasites, cancer cells, fungi, and viruses. Immunity to these invaders can be acquired artificially through vaccination (active immunization) and serotherapy (passive immunization).
Vaccination involves injecting a healthy organism with a specific cocktail of microorganisms or the parts of them responsible for a certain disease. This process causes an artificial infection, to which the organism reacts by producing specific antibodies to fight the disease. A vaccinated organism will either never contract said disease or will contract it in a mild form. Some vaccinations give permanent immunity, while others provide temporary immunity, necessitating regular booster shots.
Serotherapy consists of injecting a sick organism with an immune animal's blood serum, which would contain the needed antibodies. Serotherapy is certainly effective, but the antibodies introduced with the serum are eliminated in a short time, making its effects short-term.
The predecessor of modern vaccines is the smallpox vaccine, invented in 1796 by the English doctor Edward Jenner in a country town near Bristol. Until the latter half of the twentieth-century, smallpox was one of the most widespread diseases. Although men and livestock were extremely affected, children were the most prevalent victims of smallpox. Survivors were recognizable by the constellation of scars along their bodies left by pustules.
Jenner observed that the women involved in milking, who frequently contracted cowpox (a sister virus of smallpox), rarely fell ill with its deadlier relative. He devised a plan to expose a subject to the milder form of the virus, hoping to find some sort of antiviral resistance. The doctor proved his theory by inoculating eight-year-old James Phipps with the antibody-containing serum of a female milker. Through this method, Jenner infected Phipps with human smallpox, but the infection did not take root, lending credence to the doctor’s theory of vaccination.
Producing effective vaccines is a difficult task, especially to combat viruses, as a microorganism may be resistant to antibodies' work by the immune system.
Vaccines, like most treatments, can cause side effects. Due to pre-authorization and testing, consumers tend to be familiar with common unwanted effects and less anxious -- after all, these residual impacts are far less harmful than the diseases that vaccines prevent. Vaccination is vital for ourselves and those who are close to us: vaccinated individuals reduce the circulation of viruses and bacteria, decreasing the probability that the unvaccinated can get sick. In fact, when 95% of a population is vaccinated against a certain disease, the phenomenon of herd immunity occurs, which has enabled us to eradicate smallpox (1980) and other terrible diseases.
Mariacarla Frippa
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