Understanding Immunity: A Case Study Analysis of Different Types

This assignment presents a case study analysis exploring various types of immunity, including active, passive, and acquired immunity. The first case study examines the MMR vaccine, detailing how it provides active and acquired immunity against measles, mumps, and rubella. The second case study focuses on naturally active immunity, using the example of chickenpox to illustrate how prior exposure leads to lifelong protection. The final case study delves into naturally passive immunity, emphasizing the role of breastfeeding in transferring antibodies and providing immunity to infants. The assignment references relevant scientific literature to support its claims and provides insights into the practical implications of these different immunity types.

Running head: TYPES OF IMMUNITY
Types of Immunity
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

1TYPES OF IMMUNITY
CASE STUDY 1
MMR vaccine stands for the combination of vaccine given against measles, mumps
and Rubella. The vaccine contains attenuated or live weakened viruses including rubeola
virus causing measles, Rubula virus causing mumps and Rubella virus against which
immunity will be developed. Infants should receive this vaccine in two doses, first dose
between 9 to 15 months of age and the second between 15 to 6 years of age. Active immunity
is developed when the disease causing organism triggers body’s immune system to produce
antibodies against the organism thereby giving life time immunity to the person because if the
person encounters the disease in future his body will immediately produce antibodies as
immune response to combat the disease. Acquired immunization is a type of active immunity
that is elicitated by the administration of vaccine (Cdc.gov. 2020). Therefore MMR vaccine
provides active and acquired immunization to the child when he receives two doses of the
vaccine and develops life time immunity against the three viruses.
Measles, mumps and Rubella causes similar types of symptoms in children who have
received no prior immunization against these viruses. In the case study Julia is sceptical
about the concept of live and attenuated vaccine being given to the her baby because there are
cases where primary vaccination have failed and the child develops infection (Gagneur,
Pinquier and Quach 2015). Therefore it is necessary to give vaccination to infants at 12
months after their birth to reduce chances of infection. It is better to take a single vaccine
than three different vaccine for three different type of viruses (nhs.uk. 2020). It was stated
that MMR vaccine was more than 90% effective in eliminating measles (Doherty et al. 2016)
therefore it is advisable for the Julia and her baby to allow the baby receive MMR vaccine at
prescribed dose and duration.

2TYPES OF IMMUNITY
CASE STUDY 2
Naturally active immunization is the immunity that is developed naturally when an
individual is exposed to an infectious organism and develops disease for the first time leading
to primary immune response. Secondary immune response developed after some days of the
primary immune response when the body’s immunity triggers the production of antibody
against the foreign infectious agent and shows a heightened response when the individual is
exposed to the same organism. The immune response triggererd gives life long protection to
the individual. Chicken pox is a Varicella zoster infection that affects individual at any age of
their life, but once it has occurred, the immune response will stay for life long (Grubbs and
Kahwaji 2018).
Chicken pox is an acute infection which after causing primary infection remains in the
sensory nerve of the affected individual as latent infection. It causes malaise and fever after
14 to 16 days of invasion of the virus and immunity is for life after the person has recovered
from the infection. Healthy people do not develop chicken pox after re-exposure to the virus
because the antibodies specific to the virus have naturally developed and remain as a memory
response in the immune system. However it is evident that outbreak of chicken pox occur
because it is contagious in nature and once a person in the family gets chicken pox, others in
the family become susceptible to the infection. In the case study, Walter notices that there is
an outbreak of chicken pox in the class but those who have suffered from chicken pox
previously does not catch the infection this is because they have developed naturally active
immunization after being previously infected with chicken pox. The ones who are victim of
chicken pox outbreak have never been exposed to varicella virus and therefore their primary
and secondary response have not developed (Cdc.gov. 2020).

3TYPES OF IMMUNITY
CASE STUDY 3
Naturally passive immunity is gained when antibodies from mother to offspring is
transferred either through mother’s blood to fetal blood or by brestfeeding of the infant by the
mother. However natural passive immunity is not life long and stays with the child for a short
period of time. Passive immunity is the transfer of antibodies from one person to another by
means of customized antibodies. The type of antibody transferred include IgG andf IgA in
the milk and colostrum from the mother to baby. Milk also contains some moleculeds that
induce the growth of normal microflora in the gut to remove the harmful bacteria out of the
body and also increases the activity of immune system so that the baby has less chances to
become susceptible to bacterial infection. Bacterial infection in children shows a common
symptom that is diarrhoea (Miller 2017).
Breast feeding is better than formula feeding because eit reduces the chance of
diarrhoea in the child. Importance of breast feeding for infants and babies is the basis of
passive immunity because immunization is elicited against microbial infection in the body of
the child after it receives antibodies against the microbes through milk and colostrum. In the
case it is seen that calves who do not receive breast feeding by the cows are suffereing from
diarrhoea because the formula fed does not the contain the required antibodies that triggers
the immune response to the bacterial infection. On the other hand the calves that have
received milk through breast feeding are immunized through natural and passive immunity.
Therefore it is imporytant for the baby to receive their mother’s milk after birth in order to
avoid bacterial infection and infant morbidity. The maternal milk contains antigens, immune
modulatory factors that elicitates immune response in the gut-associated lymphoid tissue
thereby showing long term effect against diseases affecting immune system (Verhasselt
2015).

4TYPES OF IMMUNITY
References:
Cdc.gov. (2020). Chickenpox | For Healthcare Professionals | Varicella | CDC. Cdc.gov.
Retrieved 10 March 2020, from https://www.cdc.gov/chickenpox/hcp/index.html.
Cdc.gov. (2020). Vaccines: Vac-Gen/Immunity Types. Cdc.gov. Retrieved 10 March 2020,
from https://www.cdc.gov/vaccines/vac-gen/immunity-types.htm.
Doherty, M., Buchy, P., Standaert, B., Giaquinto, C. and Prado-Cohrs, D., 2016. Vaccine
impact: benefits for human health. Vaccine, 34(52), pp.6707-6714.
Gagneur, A., Pinquier, D. and Quach, C., 2015. Immunization of preterm infants. Human
vaccines & immunotherapeutics, 11(11), pp.2556-2563.
Grubbs, H. and Kahwaji, C.I., 2018. Physiology, Active Immunity. In StatPearls [Internet].
StatPearls Publishing.
Miller, E. M. (2017). Beyond passive immunity: Breastfeeding, milk and collaborative
mother-infant immune systems. In Breastfeeding (pp. 26-39). Routledge.
nhs.uk. (2020). MMR vaccine FAQs. nhs.uk. Retrieved 10 March 2020, from
https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/vaccinations/mmr-questions-answers/.
Verhasselt, V., 2015. Is infant immunization by breastfeeding possible?. Philosophical
Transactions of the Royal Society B: Biological Sciences, 370(1671), p.20140139.