Question

A. Some individuals have a decreased ability to produce the respiratory burst and thus are prone to repeated infections. What is respiratory burst and why does it lead to increased infections?

B. Pathogens and vaccines with short incubation periods are not ideal for generating immunity against future infection. Why?

C. What should ideal incubation length be?

Answer 1

Question : What is respiratory burst?

Answer : Respiratory burst is the rapid release of the reactive oxygen species, superoxide anion and hydrogen peroxide, from different cell types. This is usually utilised for mammalian immunological defence, but also plays a role in cell signalling.

Question : why does it lead to increased infections?

Answer : The respiratory burst of phagocytes is required for the optimal killing of a wide variety of bacteria and fungi. In its absence the microbes are engulfed but killing is impaired. This manifests in the patients in an increased frequency of infection, predominantly in the reticulo endothelial system.

Question : Pathogens and vaccines with short incubation periods are not ideal for generating immunity against future infection. Why?

Answer : In vaccination we introduce some pathogens either in live or dead form into our body in order to produce general immunity by generating anti bodies against it. But if the incubation period is short there may be chance of developing a disease that caused by the pathogens we introduced due to lack of time for body to make anti bodies against them. That's why we don't use pathogens with short incubation period to make vaccines.

Question : What should ideal incubation length be?

Answer : ideal length is at least 14 days.