Quotation from: Manual of SurgeryWritten by: Alexander Miles and Alexis Thomson |
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_Artificial or Passive Immunity._--A form of immunity can be induced by the introduction of protective substances obtained from an animal which has been actively immunised. The process by which passive immunity is acquired depends upon the fact that as a result of the reaction between the specific virus of a particular disease (the _antigen_) and the tissues of the animal attacked, certain substances--_antibodies_--are produced, which when transferred to the body of a susceptible animal protect it against that disease. The most important of these antibodies are the _antitoxins_. From the study of the processes by which immunity is secured against the effects of bacterial action the serum and vaccine methods of treating certain infective diseases have been evolved. The _serum treatment_ is designed to furnish the patient with a sufficiency of antibodies to neutralise the infection. The anti-diphtheritic and the anti-tetanic act by neutralising the specific toxins of the disease--_antitoxic serums_; the anti-streptcoccic and the serum for anthrax act upon the bacteria--_anti-bacterial serums_.
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