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Immunity can be acquired either actively or passively. Immunity is acquired actively when a person is exposed to foreign substances and the immune system responds. Passive immunity is when antibodies are transferred from one host to another. Both actively acquired and passively acquired immunity can be obtained by natural or artificial means.
Active immunization is the induction of immunity after exposure to an antigen. Antibodies are created by the recipient and may be stored permanently. [citation needed]Active immunization can occur naturally when microbes or other antigen are received by a person who has not yet come into contact with the microbes and has no pre-made antibodies for defense.
The earliest recorded artificial induction of immunity in humans was by variolation or inoculation, which is the controlled infection of a subject with a less lethal natural form of smallpox (known as Variola Minor) to make him or her immune to re-infection with the more lethal natural form, Variola Major.
Here to clear up the difference between natural immunity, and vaccine-mediated immunity, is Dr. Theodore Bailey, Chief of GBMC’s Division of Infectious Disease.
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A representation of the cholera epidemic of the 19th century. For thousands of years mankind has been intrigued with the causes of disease and the concept of immunity. The prehistoric view was that disease was caused by supernatural forces, and that illness was a form of theurgic punishment for "bad deeds" or "evil thoughts" visited upon the soul by the gods or by one's enemies. [8]
The U.S. has surpassed 46 million confirmed cases of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, and natural immunity from a prior infection may not be enough to rely on when ...
Active immunity can also be generated artificially, through vaccination. The principle behind vaccination (also called immunization ) is to introduce an antigen from a pathogen to stimulate the immune system and develop specific immunity against that particular pathogen without causing disease associated with that organism. [ 131 ]