Passive Immunity to Infectious Disease 1955

Immunity to a disease is achieved through the presence of antibodies to that disease in a persons system. Antibodies are proteins produced by the body to neutralize or destroy toxins or disease-carrying organisms. Antibodies are disease-specific. For example, measles antibody will protect a person who is exposed to measles disease, but will have no effect if he or she is exposed to mumps. There are two types of immunity: active and passive. Active immunity results when exposure to a disease organism triggers the immune system to produce antibodies to that disease. Exposure to the disease organism can occur through infection with the actual disease (resulting in natural immunity), or introduction of a killed or weakened form of the disease organism through vaccination (vaccine-induced immunity). Either way, if an immune person comes into contact with that disease in the future, their immune system will recognize it and immediately produce the antibodies needed to fight it. Active immunity is long-lasting, and sometimes life-long. Passive immunity is provided when a person is given antibodies to a disease rather than producing them through his or her own immune system.
However, passive immunity lasts only for a few weeks or months. Only active immunity is long-lasting. For more information on the human immune system and vaccines, go to the website of the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) at http://www3.niaid.nih.gov/topics/immuneSystem/ . This is clipped from the 1955 film Immunization (2nd Ed) produced by Encyclopedia Britannica Film and available at the Internet Archive.

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thx ! i couldnt understand this after 2 hours in biology, but this vid makes it so obvious !!