Infertility and its causes have overtime proven to be a serious cause of worry to married people. This article focuses more on the immunological causes of infertility, especially in women.
The Immune system serves as a defense mechanism for the body. It protects the body against bacteria, viruses, parasites and other harmful microorganisms through the production of antibodies that recognize and attack these microorganisms.
When the immune system senses the presence of any antigen (that is foreign substance) it starts up an immune response which automatically attacks the antigen with the help of the antibodies produced and also identifies self and non-self by detecting proteins present on the surface of all cells.
This also involves an arranged set of interactions among host cells with the purpose of preventing dangerous incursion and also restoring homeostasis. The immune system does not only defend against external challenging antigens but also the possibilities of internal attack from tumor cells and sometimes auto aggressive attack from its own defensive forces and this is known as autoimmunity.
For every individual, the immune system varies but, it becomes stronger during adulthood, as we have been exposed to more pathogens and developed better immunity. This is the main reason children fall sick than adults.
Once an antibody has been produced previously, a copy is retained in the body so that if the same antigen comes in again, it can be dealt with quickly. An example of this is chickenpox, once you have had chickenpox before, the body stores the antibody, and then the next time this chickenpox antigen arrives, the antibody fights it immediately and this is called Immunity.