Immunity

Immunity:

• Immunology is the study of the immune system.
• The immune system protects an individual from various infective agents.
• It refers to all the mechanisms used by the body for protection from environmental agents that are foreign to the body.
• When the immune system does not function efficiently in an individual, it leads to infection causing disease. The overall ability of the body to fight against the disease causing pathogen is called immunity and also called disease resistance.
• The lack of immunity is known as susceptibility.
• Immunity is highly specific.
• Normally many of the responses of the immune system initiate the destruction and elimination of invading organisms and any toxic molecules produced by them. These immune reactions are destructive in nature and are made in response only to molecules that are foreign to the host and not to those of the host itself. This ability to distinguish foreign molecules from the self is another fundamental feature of the immune system. However, occasionally, it fails to make its distinction and reacts destructively against the host's own molecules; such autoimmune diseases can be fatal to the organism.
• Almost all the macromolecules e.g. proteins, polysaccharides, nucleic acids, etc., as long as they are foreign to the recipient organism can induce an immune response. Any substance capable of eliciting an immune response is called an ANTIGEN (ANTIbody GENerator).