Quote:
Originally Posted by gemy  I must admit to a black hole of understanding as I wrap my mind around titers. |
Titers, nutshell version:
- Titers measure humoral immunity ONLY (ie, antibodies in the blood)
- Titers do NOT measure cell-mediated immunity (cell-mediated immunity is what fights the disease, if it occurs)
Therefore, titers really tell you nothing about whether or not the body can actually fight the disease should it occur, since we only see humoral immunity.
In addition:
- You can have a positive titer and have NO cell-mediated immunity
- You can have a negative titer, but actually HAVE cell-mediated immunity
Therefore, a positive OR negative result really has very little meaning since we can't get a look at cell-mediated immunity.
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Did that make sense? I hope so...