Word: antigenically
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Such memory is generated on the basis of interactions between specialized cells, known as T and B lymphocytes, and antigens. Upon first "seeing" a given antigen, in the phase known as the "primary response," just a handful of the millions of cells can actually recognize, or bind, the antigen. The system is thus incapable of mounting a truly effective response...
...upon subsequent infection with the same antigen, the immune system leaps into action against the already familiar enemy, and immobilizes it with a much stronger "secondary response...
...trick for vaccine designers is to find an antigen which fools the immune system into thinking it is a dangerous foe, but is actually a harmless look-alike...
Physicians use vaccines against viruses, such as the measles, polio, mumps, or rubella, against bacteria, such as typhoid and salmonella, and against bacterial toxins, such as pertussis, tetanus and diphtheria. Each type of antigen, however, requires its own strategy...
Some of the newest techniques actually require no virus, either dead or alive, at all. Scientists simply take advantage of the antigens themselves, injected free of their dangerous viral carriers, to provoke an immune response. When a given antigen shows up again, this time on a virus, it's as if the immune system has already seen the whole virus...