[nneessaa]

Also, titers are not always accurate. They measure the amount of antibodies for that disease in the blood stream at the time the titer is taken. I am not sure but I believe the memory cells circulate through the blood stream and we learned in Physio that they are there for pretty much life. Memory cells remember the invader and are able to recognize it quicker than the immune system starting from scratch to try and fight it off. This is in humans, but I take it it is similar in dogs. If not, forgive my rambling. I don't think the titer measures the memory cells, but rather the antibodies which are the cells that bind specifically to the pathogen (aka disease the vaccine is trying to prevent) and destroy it. There are B and T cells that destroy the invader in different ways but I won't get into that. Pretty much, the memory cells activate a series of cells that end up killing the pathogen, which can happen in different ways.

Then again, what I've stated is what I learned through human immune systems, and like I said I am not sure if this works the same in dogs. I believe titers are useless since I don't think there is any way to measure the memory cells, since titers measure the antibodies in the blood AT THAT TIME. So they are completely useless unless the dog was recently exposed to the virus and their immune system was combating it (and the memory cells were making antibodies), thus the titer would come up that there are a lot of antibodies circulating in the blood.

Sorry if this makes no sense. I just compiled random information I had and have never considered why titers were pretty much useless. LOL I guess Physio did come in handy!