Specific Immunity

The immune system has a series of non-specific defenses that we have learned about: physical barriers, chemical protections, inflammation etc.  These work no matter what type of threat and don't need to be activated- they are always on guard. But these are  not always enough protection. The immune system can attack a pathogen and infection with a whole arsenal of potent defenses that can be targeted at the specific organism or threat. This is the Specific Immune System, also called the Adaptive Immune System. 

Specific or Adaptive Immune Defense

The videos below explain the basics of this process. I'm going to use the word pathogen so that you remember that this  process can work against viruses, bacteria, parasites and even specific molecules.