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Would this hypothetically work?


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I've a friend who has type O blood, and she recently has received many shots containing various antibodies, dead viral protein capsids etc etc..

 

So hypothetically speaking in the case of say a random epidemic, will I be able to take some of her blood and inject it into mine and thus giving me all of the immunities that she has?

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if she has O rhesus -, then youll be able to accept her blood. if she has O rhesus +, then yoll be able to accept her blood unless you are rhesus -ve, in which case your body will raise antibodies against the rhesus antigen of her red blood cells, which will clump her blood cells together within your arteries :-(

 

as to gaining her immunities, any of her B-cells or helper-T-cells that you get will probably be killed by your body as they will likely posess a different majour histocompatability complex, so you will not gain her ability to create antibodies against the disease.

 

you will, however, pick up a few free-floating antibodies from her blood syrum. not many, but if the disease is present in low levels in your body i suppose the antibodies could cause a few of the bacteria/viruses to be et by macrophages, which could bring the disease to the attention of your adaptive immune system a little quicker than it would otherwize, but all-in-all its not really worth it. youd be much more likely to aquire any diseases that she has than any immunities.

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as to gaining her immunities' date=' any of her B-cells or helper-T-cells that you get will probably be killed by your body as they will likely posess a different majour histocompatability complex, so you will not gain her ability to create antibodies against the disease.

 

[/quote']

 

What about siblings and twins?

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hmm... id guess that if you innoculate someone with antigen specific memory-B-cells or memory-helper-T-cells that have the same MHC, then they (the cells) would survive and function correctly, although im not sure. also, i think they might have to go strait into a lymph node rather than into a blood vessel.

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  • 2 weeks later...

you would only gain passive immunity which would fade in a while. active immunity comes when your body fights against real pathogens and produces memory B and T cells which activate when the pathogen triggers the immune system again.

 

basically, no it would not work.

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  • 2 months later...
you would only gain passive immunity which would fade in a while. active immunity comes when your body fights against real pathogens and produces memory B and T cells which activate when the pathogen triggers the immune system again.

 

basically' date=' no it would not work.[/quote']

 

Exactly, you would also risk getting serum sickness. Also, your friend's blood is type O, which means they would have anti-A and anti-B antibodies in their blood..if that was injected into you, wouldn't those antibodies attack your own RBCs and cause serious inflammation reactions?

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umm Type O meant that they lack Anti-B and Anti-A...

My understanding is that people with type O RBCs lack A and B antigens and have anti-A and anti-B antibodies.

 

Anyway, assuming your blood types were compatible, you would probably get protection for a few days, up to a week, and then those foreign antibodies etc will get destroyed, leaving no memory cells.

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