The difference between "non-specific" immunity and "specific" immunity in the human body
Immunity is the body's physiological response to recognize and eliminate "aliens", which helps the body fight infections and prevent diseases. Immunity is the body's own defense mechanism, which is operated by the immune system.
1. Pathogen specificity.
Non-specific immunity is also known as innate immunity, which is present at birth in an individual and can be inherited, so it is also known as innate immunity. Non-specific immunity is characterized by the ability to recognize the common components of a class of pathogens, but cannot finely distinguish between different pathogens, so it has a wide range of effects. In contrast, specific immunity is produced by an individual's exposure to antigenic substances in the course of life, also known as adaptive immunity or acquired immunity. It mainly includes cellular immunity mediated by T cells and humoral immunity mediated by B cells. Specific immunity provides fine-grained recognition of antigens and only acts against specific antigens.
Second, the speed of the effect.
Non-specific immunity acts immediately after exposure to pathogens, exerts a fast effect, and is the body's first line of defense against pathogens. However, after contact with pathogens, the specific immune system needs to undergo lymphocyte activation, proliferation and differentiation to produce effector molecules in order to exert immunity, so the effect is late.
3. Whether there is immune memory.
Recurrent infection with the pathogen does not alter the strength of the nonspecific immune response, so that the nonspecific immune response has no immune response and memory. When the specific immune system is exposed to the same pathogen again, it produces a faster and stronger immune response than the first time, so the specific immune system has a memory function.
In summary, the difference between non-specific immunity and specific immunity is mainly manifested in the specificity of pathogens, the speed of effect, and the presence or absence of immune memory. In the human immune system, non-specific immunity and specific immunity work together to form the body's defense mechanism against external pathogens.