Your friend Ellie is pregnant. She tells you that her mother, a microbiologist, has warned her not to clean out the cat's litter box while she is pregnant in case she contracts a disease called toxoplasmosis, which can affect her fetus. She says her mom told her toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, that may be found in the feces of infected cats and also in raw meat. Your friend's mom tells her that when a person has not had a particular disease, they are not immune to the pathogen that causes the disease, and lack antibodies against that microbe. Your friend has never had toxoplasmosis but she doesn't quite understand why this, and the fact that she doesn't have antibodies to T. gondii, is important. You help her understand some facts about her adaptive immune system.
-You explain to Ellie that when a person is exposed to an antigen, they generate antibodies against the antigen. Antibodies are ________ generated by ______.

Question

Your friend Ellie is pregnant. She tells you that her mother, a microbiologist, has warned her not to clean out the cat's litter box while she is pregnant in case she contracts a disease called toxoplasmosis, which can affect her fetus. She says her mom told her toxoplasmosis is caused by a parasite called Toxoplasma gondii, that may be found in the feces of infected cats and also in raw meat. Your friend's mom tells her that when a person has not had a particular disease, they are not immune to the pathogen that causes the disease, and lack antibodies against that microbe. Your friend has never had toxoplasmosis but she doesn't quite understand why this, and the fact that she doesn't have antibodies to T. gondii, is important. You help her understand some facts about her adaptive immune system.
-You explain to Ellie that when a person is exposed to an antigen, they generate antibodies against the antigen. Antibodies are ________ generated by ______.

Quizplus · Accepted Answer

Antibodies are proteins generated by effector B cells. This is important because it means that if Ellie were exposed to T. gondii for the first time while she is pregnant, her B cells would need time to generate antibodies to fight the pathogen. This delay could give the pathogen time to cross the placenta and affect the fetus. Therefore, it is important for pregnant women to avoid exposure to pathogens like T. gondii and other sources of infection.

Your Friend Ellie Is Pregnant