Immune System Vocabulary

2. a molecule on a cell that the immune system can recognize either as a part of the body or as coming from outside the body
4. the process by which harmless antigens are deliberately introduced into a person’s body to produce active immunity
6. the ability of the immune system to destroy pathogens before they can cause disease
8. a disease that can pass from one organism to another
10. an organism that causes disease
11. a chemical that kills bacteria or slows their growth
12. a disease caused by a virus that attacks the immune system
14. a substance that stimulates the body to produce chemicals that destroy viruses, bacteria, or other disease-causing organisms; consists of pathogens that have been weakened or killed
15. response part of the body’s defense against pathogens in which cells of the immune system react to each kind of pathogen with a defense targeted specifically at that pathogen
16. white blood cell that reacts to each kind of pathogen with a defense targeted specifically at that pathogen

1. immunity in which the antibodies that fight a pathogen come from another organism rather than from the person’s own body
3. a poison that can harm an organism; sometimes produced by bacterial pathogens
5. a white blood cell that destroys pathogens by engulfing them and breaking them down
7. a chemical produced by a B cell of the immune system, that destroys a specific kind of pathogen
8. response part of body’s defense against pathogens, in which fluid and white blood cells leak from blood vessels into tissues; the white blood cells destroy pathogens by breaking them down
9. immunity that occurs when a person’s own immune system produces antibodies in response to the presence of a pathogen
13. a lymphocyte that produces chemicals that help destroy a specific kind of pathogen
17. a lymphocyte that identifies pathogens and distinguishes one pathogen from the other