The Difference Between Innate Immunity And Adaptive Immunity

You may not be aware of this but your immune system has two distinct elements that make it up. Each one of these elements has its own purpose and its own way of working.

We believe that it is important for you to understand these differences to be aware of how your immune system functions.

Innate and Adaptive Immunity

The two categories of your immune system are called “innate immunity” and “adaptive immunity”. They are both essential for fighting off potential diseases and also for preventing them from getting a foothold. It is very important that you understand how they function so that you are aware of how your immune system protects you from the disease.

Innate Immunity

Your first line of defense is your innate immunity. It stops pathogens from making their way you’re your body in the first place. Your innate immunity does not go after any particular type of pathogen.

Often the innate immunity is non-specific in nature because it will target anything that it discovers in your body that should not be there rather than chase after a specific type of pathogen. Two significant parts of your innate immunity that you will be familiar with are your skin and your hair.

Your skin is vital as it provides a barrier for your body to the outside world. The skin does a great job of keeping out things that want to get in. Your hair also performs a vital role as it will trap different types of microorganisms and it is essential that you wash it often so that it is always clean.

If you have long hair then never put it into your mouth and chew it or bite it. You never know what kind of bad microorganisms your hair has trapped and you do not want these in your mouth. There are a lot of other internal parts to your innate immunity and one of these is mucus.

Similar to your hair, mucus will trap microorganisms as well. It will trap harmful bacteria before it is able to reach your respiratory system. Mucus is responsible for you developing a cough prior to getting sick.

Adaptive Immunity

You have a number of cells that will try to eliminate any foreign body that they believe should not be there. Your adaptive immunity works in a different way in that it responds with the discovery of a threat that has already begun to become a problem for you.

This element of your immune system will specialize in eliminating sickness using a variety of methods. This could be opening up a membrane or simply taking it and flushing it out of your system.

The most common examples of your adaptive immunity are T cells and B cells. These cells have memories and will recognize foreign bodies that they have fought in the past. This is great because they will know how they will need to fight against them if they appear again. When these cells see a threat they try to identify it so they know what to do to eliminate it