Innate and Adaptive Immunity

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Innate and adaptive immunity are the two forms of immunity we have throughout our lives. Physical and chemical barriers, phagocytic leukocytes, dendritic cells, natural killer cells, and plasma proteins make up our innate immunity, which is present in our bodies from birth and fights all outside intruders. Adaptive immunity, on the other hand, is the immunity that our bodies develop to combat a specific bacteria or virus; it is not present at birth and is only activated when unfamiliar pathogens are present outside. It is made up of B and T lymphocytes (Dunkelberger et al., 2010).
Because our immune systems can fight any germ or virus, the environment in which we live can play a role. When our bodies are attacked by a new kind of bacterium, however, our systems respond by developing new forms of defenses to keep the virus from spreading. People's immune systems degrade as they age, which is why th...