Immunology

SPT1203 Dr. N. D. Soko

Defining the
immunology

• The study of the immune system

• Immune system = complex
system of organs and cells
• Defense system of the body
• Recognizes and destroys foreign
antigens
 A branch of biomedical science that studies the
structure and function of the immune system

It looks at:
Defining • Components of the immune system
immunology •
•
Its biological processes
The physiological functioning of the immune system
• Disorders of the immune system
• Immunization
• Organ transplantation
• Blood banking
• Serology & immunochemistry
A ride back in time….
 • Historian
• Reported an unusual phenomena
• A person previously infected by the
plague was exempt from reinfection
• Phrase immunity was birthed
• From the Latin word “immunitas”
• = exempt from paying taxes
• Implying infection leads to exemption
Thucydides- 430BC to further infection
• Immunity = resistance to reinfection
Al-Razi
(865-930AD)
• Iranian physician
• First person to:
• Distinguish between smallpox & measles
• Write an article on allergy & immunology
• Document allergic asthma
• Realize that fever is actually one of the body’s
defense mechanism to combat disease
• Describe the theory of acquired immunity
Smallpox –an ancient pandemic
• An epidemic that ravaged the
world for 3000 years
• Can be found in mummified
Pharaohs
• Highly infectious
• Symptoms include fever and rash
• Earliest documented record in
China in the 4th century
Smallpox –an ancient epidemic
• Caused by Variola major &
Variola minor
• Last naturally occurring case
recorded in 1977
• 1980 WHO declares the world
free of smallpox
 Chinese practice
immunization
1000AD
They inhale dried
powders derived from
crusts of small pox lesions
Girolamo Fracastoro
(1478-1553)
• Describes the theory of contagious
disease
• States that an epidemic is caused by
transferable seed-like entities
Variolation
(18th Century)
• Earliest record Wan Quan’s
Douzhen Xinfa (1499-1582)
• Derived from a unique
infection agent : variola virus
• Principle: to cause mild
infection with an unmodified
pathogen
• Immunity to smallpox was
conferred by inserting dried
exudate of smallpox into the
nose
Variolation….
• Traveled from China to the Western world via trade routes
• Lady Mary Montague observed variolation in Istanbul
• Her son was variolated in Istanbul
• She then pushed for her daughter to be variolated in England
• Prince of Wales allowed his children to be variolated in 1972
• Only after it had been practised on prisoners
• Variolation then spread in England and to the Americas
 Edward Jenner -1796
• Lived 1749-1823
• English Physician
• Credited with official initiation of vaccination
• Smallpox plagued the world
• 20% of the population was disfigured
• Practiced medicine in a small rural town called Berkely
• Observed milkmaids with cowpox did not develop
smallpox
• Cowpox is the bovine version of smallpox

https://britishheritage.com/history/edward-jenner-founder-immunology
 Edward Jenner -
1796
•Steps
• Collected the cowpox virus from
the lesions of a milkmaid
• Inoculated 8 year old James Phipps
with the virus
• James developed fever and rash
but recovered after a few weeks
• Inoculated James Phipps with
smallpox virus upon recovery
• What do you think happened?
Edward Jenner-1976
• Conclusion: inoculation with cowpox could confer immunity to
smallpox
• The first vaccination!!! Vacca = Latin for cow
• Faced a lot of opposition from fellow medical doctors and the church
• Eventually vaccination was accepted
• He was awarded 30,000 pounds
• Termed “The father of immunology”
• His work helped eradicate a deadly disease & tame a pandemic
 Robert Koch

• Born in 1843
• A German M.D.
• Nobel Prize in
Physiology or
Medicine -1905
Robert Koch

• Demonstrated the germ theory applied

to human disease
• He was a student of Jacob Henle
• Jacob Henle had published (1840)
that infectious disease was caused
by living parasitic organisms
• Known for developing bacteriology
methods of:
• Isolation of pure cultures
• Fixing, staining, photography
• Use of agar
• Use of petri dishes
Robert Koch
• Anthrax was prevalent during his time
• Collected anthrax bacilli from spleen of animals killed by anthrax
• Made pure cultures of the anthrax by growing the bacilli on aqueous
tumour of ox’s eye
• Inoculated healthy mice with anthrax bacilli and they died-germ
theory
• When he inoculated mice who had been injected with dead animals
blood they did not die of anthrax
• He postulated the Koch’s postulates
However
we know
now that
not all
infectious
agents can
be
cultured??
??
https://www.sciencehistory.org/historical-profile/louis-pasteur

Louis Pastuer
• French Chemist
• 1822-1895
• Supported the germ theory
• Made the first official vaccine

Science History Institute/Gregory Tobias

Louis Pastuer
•Anthrax vaccine
1. 24 sheep, 1 goat, 6 cows inoculated twice
with attenuated anthrax bacillus
 5 May 1881
 17 May 1881
2. Control group unvaccinated
3. 31 May 1881
 All animals inoculated with virulent anthrax
bacilli
4. 2 June 1881
 All vaccinated animals alive
 All unvaccinated animals all dead
Assignment
Describe in detail the work done by
a. Edward Jenner
b. Robert Koch
c. Louis Pasteur
Explaining the science behind their experiments and how their work
contributed to our understanding of human disease and immunology

DUE: 20 February 2022 (3000-5000 words)