types of immunisation
Last reviewed 01/2018
Acquired immunity may take two forms: active or passive.
Actively acquired immunity involves the development of an immune response normally due to natural exposure to an infective organism or following vaccination. This immunity leads to long-lasting resistance to infection.
Passively acquired immunity however does not involve a host immune response and it occurs naturally in infants following the placental transfusion of maternal immunoglobulin or artificially, following immunoglobulin transfusion. Passively acquired immunity to infection is relatively short lived.