Immunology question, please help me

[VanKampen]

A laboratory worker has been infected with a laboratory strain of a virus. Without treatment she survived and recovered to full health. This is most likely due to:

a. innate immunity
b. acquired immunity
c. passive immunity
d. luck

[BobcatBenny]

Why isn't this a poll?

[ASUFrisbeeStud]

a

[SnyTigBaseB07]

c

[Old Tiger]

E. One of the above.

[CalallenWildcat]

I'm taking a shot at this and saying B

[VanKampen]

Originally posted by BobcatBenny
Why isn't this a poll?
because its not a popularity contest. i want someone to give me the right answer and explain it.

[Pudlugger]

b

She probably had been exposed to a similar virus or a smaller dose of the same virus before in her work and acquired antibodies from that exposure that helped her recover from the latter exposure.

[ASUFrisbeeStud]

Yeah but it's hard to say what she's been exposed to. It's hard to answer that question without knowing some other things. I've been exposed to plenty of viruses and survived without any treatment. I took immunology a few years ago but I mean it could a combination of any of the four, luck does sometimes play a role.

[VanKampen]

Originally posted by ASUFrisbeeStud
Yeah but it's hard to say what she's been exposed to. It's hard to answer that question without knowing some other things. I've been exposed to plenty of viruses and survived without any treatment. I took immunology a few years ago but I mean it could a combination of any of the four, luck does sometimes play a role.
im stuck between innate immunity and acquired immunity. innate means it fights the virus and it goes away but only that one time and it will come back if you become infected again. acquired is when the virus makes it past innate immunity but once you get acquired immunity to the virus you never feel the symptoms again and your immune system always fights it off. i think since it says recovered it has to be acquired because i dont think you feel any symptoms with innate immunity. correct me if im wrong.

[ASUFrisbeeStud]

My gut thought was acquired.

[Pudlugger]

Innate immunity is an immunity you are born with...that's what innate means. Acquired immunity is just that...something you get or acquire. If she had innate immunity she probably would not have gotten sick in the first place. If she had been exposed to the virus before in subclinical doses in the course of her work in the lab she might have developed antibodies to it. When she was re-exposed latter with a significant dose, her body had the immune "memory" to rapidly develope more anti-bodies to fight the infection. Hence she responded favorably by mounting an immune reaction from an acquired immunity. The answer is b.

[WOS87]

Believe me... I'm 100% sure it's acquired immunity. I aced immunology in med school.

Examples:

Passive immunity is when you are treated with antibodies that your immune system did not make... such as a mothers antibodies crossing the placenta to protect an infant... or when someone is injected with antibodies to snake venom, or if you are bitten by a rabid animal, the painful injections are injections with antibodies to the rabies virus.

Innate immunity is wide ranging but the common theme is that it is nonspecific. The manner in which your body fights off almost any bacterial infection is through innate immunity. It is immunity to a potential toxin because of natural defenses in your genetic makeup (i.e. skin as an actual physical barrier to microorganisms, enzymes and acids in your digestive tract that not only digest food, but also kill potentially harmful microorganisms, getting a fever when you are sick is actually innate immunity at work as your body is raising the temperature because most pathogens die or are inhibited with only minimal increases in temperature.) The body reacts the same way no matter what the offending cause, it doesn't distinguish between different bacteria and doesn't "remember" them so you can therefore be reinfected.

Acquired immunity is immunity that is 'acquired' from being exposed to a potential toxin (either by being given a vaccination or by being exposed to an actual pathogen). When a potentially harmful virus enters your body, your immune system goes into attack mode, breaks down the virus and begins synthesizing antibodies specifically aimed at destroying that virus. If you had never been exposed to it before, you would not have antibodies to it. That is the main theory behind vaccines. A vaccine is an injection of harmless pieces of really dangerous bacteria or viruses. It tricks your body into thinking it has been infected by the actual microorganism, causing it to make antibodies to the pieces and thus giving you acquired immunity to the bug if you ever are really exposed to it.


Hope that makes sense.... The answer is B

[BobcatBenny]

Originally posted by VanKampen
A laboratory worker has been infected with a laboratory strain of a virus. Without treatment she survived and recovered to full health. This is most likely due to:

a. innate immunity
b. acquired immunity
c. passive immunity
d. luck

The answer is D.

The only way a laboratory worker can get infected with a laboratory strain of a virus is if proper laboratory procedures are not being followed. So if a lab is operating on sub standard practices and procedures, the survival of any of the workers is a function of luck.

It is the same for all professions where lives hang in the balance. When saftey guidelines are circumvented, then people die or they are just lucky.

Sometimes you college kids need to look at why the question is being asked. :thinking:

[Pudlugger]

Originally posted by BobcatBenny
The answer is D.

The only way a laboratory worker can get infected with a laboratory strain of a virus is if proper laboratory procedures are not being followed. So if a lab is operating on sub standard practices and procedures, the survival of any of the workers is a function of luck.

It is the same for all professions where lives hang in the balance. When saftey guidelines are circumvented, then people die or they are just lucky.

Sometimes you college kids need to look at why the question is being asked. :thinking:

No doubt the worker was lucky in this case but it wasn't luck that allowed her to recover, it was acquired immunity. Without the immune response no amount of good luck would save her. Good luck arguing that with the prof. LOL

[BobcatBenny]

Ya know what works good on teachers and professors?
You tell them that, "...those that can't do become teachers and profs!"
Always try to butter them up before starting an argument. :eek: