what keeps us from passively immunizing ourselves?

I though the idea of immunization was to inject a weak form of a disease, that your immune system could handle and build up a resistance to.

If you injected just your roomy's antibodies your own immune system would either attack them or ignore them, neither of which builds up your resistance to the original disease.

I've never heard the term 'passive immunization'. What does it mean?

passive immunity is adaptive immunity obtained by the transfer of immune products (antibodies or sensitized t-cells) from an immune individual to a non-immune individual.
If interested, look up the work of Behring and Kitasato. Kitasato got the nobel prize in medicine in 1901 by demonstrating passive immunity...

Hi Kasiee - how are the immune products transferred passively? Cannibalism? Sex? French-kissing? Sorry I'm too lazy to do my own research.

And welcome to A2K!

Humoral passive immunity is usually transferred intraveinously...

and thanks for the welcome!

Wow, how can you 'passively' transfer blood products intraveniously? Through biting?

No you silly!!! you take blood from an immune individual, spin it down in a centrifuge so that you can collect the non-cellular component of the blood (which includes antibodies) called the serum. then inject the serum of the immune individual into the nonimmune individuals' vein via a needle!!!

heheheeee.... I guess at this point I realize you may not be able to answer my question.....heheheee
but your hella fast at replying I'll give ya that! So what is your expertise???

Oh, it doesn't sound passive at all! Human intervention required.

My speciality is answering quickly, if irrelevantly. I'm more of a dilettante, I know very little about lots of things and not a hell of a lot about anything in particular. But ask me a question about the web, music or mindless trivia and I might be more useful.

This fish rides off on his bicycle....

What keeps us from passively immunizing ourselves?

I think the exchange that just took place pretty much answers your question.

that, and I don't have my own personal centrifuge.

I do however practice passive immunization in other ways. I don't obsessively wash my hands, avoid dirt, or panic over someones sneeze.

I would be somewhat concerned about the possibility of acquiring some bloodborn pathogen along with the antibodies. HIV, Hepatitis, and so forth.

but we could screen for HIV/Hepatitis....

well...squinney's got it right in a way....its just that obtaining antibodies to the virus and not just small amts of the virus itself seems a lil safer to me... i dunno....