​ ​ ​ ​ Disease and Immunity

A pathogen is defined as a disease causing organism. Each pathogen has a uniquely

shaped ‘marker’ on the surface of their membranes called antigens. A pathogen is an organism
that causes disease. Pathogens include bacteria and viruses. Organisms which harbor these
pathogens are referred to as hosts. It is very important to understand that antigens are very
specific in shape. Every pathogen is unique because they have differently shaped antigen on
their cell surface.
Pathogens can be spread from host to host through contact with an infected organism, or
through other mediums such as food, water, waste and bodily fluids, and are thus
called transmissible diseases. The pathogen can be transmitted through direct contact he
pathogen is passed directly from one host to another by transfer of body fluids such as blood or
semen (i.e. blood/body fluids like HIV, gonorrhoea, hepatitis B & C) or indirect contact the
pathogen leaves the host and is carried in some way to another, uninfected individual (i.e.
contaminated food/air/animals/etc.)
It is therefore important to make sure that food is prepared hygienically, waste and
sewage are treated, and good personal hygiene is maintained to prevent the spread of disease.

Methods of Transmission Table

 The Body Defences

The body’s first line of defense attempts to prevent pathogens from entering the body includes:
Mechanical barriers, Chemical barriers

There are 3 main ways in which the body defends itself against disease:

1)
Mechanical barriers – Mechanical barriers act as a physical obstruction in order to prevent
pathogens from entering our body. Structures that make it difficult for pathogens to get past
them and into the body

a) Skin - covers almost all parts of your body to prevent infection from pathogens. If it is cut or
grazed, it immediately begins to heal itself, often by forming a scab

b) Hairs in the nose - these make it difficult for pathogens to get past them further up the nose so
they are not inhaled into the lungs

2) Chemical barriers – Chemical barriers are chemical substances produced in the body which
help to trap or destroy pathogens before they can get further into the body and cause disease

a) Mucus - made in various places in the body, pathogens get trapped in the mucus The mucus is
then beat upwards by the cilia and pushed up to the mouth. They can then be removed from the
body (by coughing, blowing the nose, swallowing etc)
b) Stomach acid - contains hydrochloric acid which is strong enough to kill any pathogens that
have been caught in mucus in the airways. The acidity kills pathogens that enter our digestive
system via the food we eat.

Cellular barriers

Cellular barriers are the protection offered by the cells of our immune system, which take part in
combating against pathogens and disease. For example:

●​ Lymphocytes (which produce antibodies)

●​ Phagocytes

Phagocytosis

Phagocytosis is the mechanism by which phagocytes digest pathogens. By phagocytosis -

engulfing and digesting pathogenic cells

The steps of phagocytosis is as follows:

●​ Phagocyte extends itself and engulfs the pathogen

●​ Pathogen becomes trapped in a vesicle called phagosome
●​ Other vesicles containing digestive enzymes fuse with the phagosome
●​ Enzymes digest the pathogen

Once the pathogen has infected the body, an immune response occurs to kill it. This involves
phagocytosis and antibody production by white blood cells.

Antibodies and antigens:

Function

●​ Antibodies are proteins produced by cells called lymphocytes.

●​ All cells have proteins and other substances projecting from their cell membrane
●​ They bind to the antigens on pathogens and can either: Destroy the pathogen directly OR
Alert phagocytes for destruction via phagocytosis
●​ These are known as antigens and are specific to that type of cell
●​ Lymphocytes have the ability to ‘read’ the antigens on the surfaces of cells and recognise
any that are foreign
●​ They then make antibodies which are a complementary shape to the antigens on the
surface of the pathogenic cell

Remember, each pathogen has a uniquely shaped antigen on their cell surfaces. Therefore, for
a particular antibody to aid the destruction of a certain pathogen, the shape of the antigen must
be ‘fit’ or be complementary to the shape of that particular antigen!
 In the example below, only antibody A can look onto antigen A and therefore aid its
destruction. Antibody cannot due to the fact that it does not have a complementary shape to
antigen A

Production

Antibodies are produced by lymphocytes. Lymphocytes have receptors in their cell membranes that
have a complementary shape to a certain antigen.

Lets consider lymphocyte A which have receptors that have a complementary shape to antigen A.

When a lymphocyte A comes across a pathogen with antigen A on its cell surface, their receptors
can recognize the antigen and activate lymphocyte A.

The activated lymphocyte A then produces antibodies that have the same shape as their receptors,
meaning that these antibodies can lock onto antigen A and destroy them.

Activated lymphocytes also produce memory cells, which are long-lived cells that remain in the
blood even after the infection is over. They have the ability to rapidly produce the original
antibodies if it were to come across the same pathogen/antigen again.
Pathogens can be detected by white blood cells and are destroyed in an immune response. Each
pathogen has a specific antigen protein on the cell membrane. In the immune response,
lymphocytes produce specific antibodies, which bind to the antigens to produce an
antibody-antigen complex. As each type of pathogen has different antigens, a specific antibody
which is complementary to this antigen must be made for each disease. Once the antibody binds to
the antigens, the pathogens clump together making them harmless. They can then either be killed
directly or marked for destruction by phagocytes.
 Antigens and antibodies

●​ The antibodies attach to the antigens and cause agglutination (clumping together)
●​ This means the pathogenic cells cannot move very easily
●​ At the same time, chemicals are released that signal to phagocytes that there are cells
present that need to be destroyed
 ●​ The initial response of a lymphocyte encountering a pathogen for the first time and making
specific antibodies for its antigens can take a few days, during which time an individual
may get sick
●​ Lymphocytes that have made antibodies for a specific pathogen for the first time will then
make ‘memory cells’ that retain the instructions for making those specific antibodies for
that type of pathogen
●​ This means that, in the case of reinfection by the same type of pathogen, antibodies can
very quickly be made in greater quantities and the pathogens destroyed before they are
able to multiply and cause illness
●​ This is how people can become immune to certain diseases after only having them once
●​ It does not work with all disease-causing microorganisms as some of them mutate fairly
quickly and change the antigens on their cell surfaces
●​ Therefore, if they invade the body for a second time, the memory cells made in the first
infection will not recall them as they now have slightly different antigens on their surfaces
(e.g. the cold virus)
●​ By producing antibodies - which clump pathogenic cells together so they can’t move as
easily (known as agglutination) and releasing chemicals that signal to other cells that they
must be destroyed
●​

Controlling the Spread of Disease

●​ The simplest way to prevent disease is to stop pathogens from spreading

●​ This means using simple measures such as good hygiene and effective sanitation and
waste disposal to contain pathogens and dispose of them safely

Preventing the Spread of Disease

If a large enough percentage of the population is vaccinated, it provides protection for the
entire population because there are very few places for the pathogen to breed - it can only do so
if it enters the body of an unvaccinated person. This is known as herd immunity. If the number of
people vaccinated against a specific disease drops in a population, it leaves the rest of the
population at risk of mass infection, as they are more likely to come across people who are
infected and contagious This increases the number of infections, as well as the number of people
who could die from a specific
infectious disease

Herd immunity

Herd immunity prevents

epidemics and pandemics
from occurring in
populations
 This is the reason that many vaccinations are given to children, as they are regularly seen
by medical practitioners and can be vaccinated early to ensure the entire vaccinated
population remains at a high level

In certain instances, vaccination programmes are run with the aim of eradicating certain
dangerous diseases, as opposed to controlling them at low levels. An example of a disease
which has been eradicated as a result of a successful vaccination programme is smallpox,
which was officially eradicated in 1980 after a vaccination programme run by the World
Health Organisation since the mid-1950s

Preventing the Spread of Disease Table

Autoimmune diseases:
 Some diseases can be caused by an immune response on healthy body cells, where they are
targeted and destroyed by the immune system. An example of this is type 1 diabetes, where the
body targets cells in the pancreas, thus insulin can no longer be produced.

​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Immunity

Making antibodies and developing memory cells for future to infection is known as ctive immunity

There are two ways in which this active immune response happens:

The body has become infected with a pathogen and so the lymphocytes go through
the process of making antibodies specific to that pathogen.

o​ After the pathogen has been killed, some of the lymphocytes remain as memory
cells. This means that if the same pathogen ever enters the body again, the
lymphocyte would recognize the antigens and be able to produce new antibodies
more quickly than the first time. Memory cells stay in the body for years, thus
giving long-term immunity.
o​ Vaccination- Active immunity can be gained after an infection, or through
vaccination.
●​ A dead or attenuated version of a pathogen is given to the patient
●​ The antigens evoke an immune response, in which antibodies are produced
●​ Memory cells are produced which stay in the body, giving long-term immunity

Vaccination can be used to control the spread of disease by providing herd immunity. This is
where a large amount of the population is vaccinated and are thus immune to the pathogen, so the
disease cannot spread as there are only a few people left who can still become infected. The few
that cannot be vaccinated, for example due to medical reasons, are therefore protected against the
disease.

●​ Active immunity is slow acting and provides long-lasting immunity

Passive immunity:
Passive immunity is a short-term defense against a pathogen and can be gained through
acquiring antibodies from another individual. One example of passive immunity is antibodies
being passed to a baby through the mother’s milk, thus it is important for babies to be breastfed
to reduce the risk of diseases. It can also be gained through injections of antibodies from a
donor.

Passive immunity is short-term as memory cells are not produced.

Cholera
Cholera causes diarrhoea

●​ Diarrhoea is the loss of watery faeces from the anus

●​ If it is severe and continues for a long time, it can lead to death
●​ Severe diarrhoea can cause the loss of significant amounts of water and ions from the
body, causing the tissues and organs to stop working properly
●​ It can be effectively treated by oral rehydration therapy
●​ This is a drink with a small amount of salt and sugar dissolved in it
●​ There are many causes of diarrhoea, one of which is infection with Vibrio cholerae
bacteria, which causes the disease cholera

How cholera leads to diarrhoea

●​ Ingested via infected water or food, if it enters the small intestine it can cause illness in the
following way:

1.​ Bacteria attach to the wall of the small intestine

2.​ They produce a toxin
3.​ The toxin stimulates the cells lining the intestine to release chloride ions from inside the
cells into the lumen of the intestine
4.​ The chloride ions accumulate in the lumen of the small intestine and lower the water
potential there
5.​ Once the water potential is lower than that of the cells lining the intestine, water starts to
move out of the cells into the intestine (by osmosis)
6.​ Large quantities of water are lost from the body in watery faeces
7.​ The blood contains too little chloride ions and water.
How does Vibrio cholerae cause diarrhoea?