# Are antibodies capable of being share between people in the same manner as viruses? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 27, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590 "2020-02-27T01:59:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![joemama24\_98](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ce7236/32.png) [@joemama24\_98](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joemama24_98)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/1 "2020-02-27T01:59:43Z")
The whole coronavirus thing got me thinking this. I would imagine the immune response a person has to a virus is on the same “fighting grounds” as the virus itself, meaning similar in substance, form, and nature. Is there any evidence of acquired immunity via antibody sharing? Is it possible that viral outbreaks might be self-limiting once enough people have been infected and survive and can transmit their antibodies, much like a virus does? Everything I’ve been taught is that it’s MY immune system that has learned to fight a virus, and not something that perhaps my body learned through transmission of a viral response from others. It’s know that mothers can pass both viral infection and antibodies to children in the womb, but is there any evidence that antibodies can spread through other vectors? Vaccines clearly don’t work this way, but why not? Instead of vaccinating with a benign virus signature that a person’s immune system develops a defense against, why can’t we we do the opposite (replicate and spread antibodies via injection). ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/2 "2020-02-27T02:18:03Z")
See immunoglobulin therapy and monoclonal antibodies. Not real as effective as a vaccine. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/3 "2020-02-27T02:20:57Z")
Because that is giving a man a fish instead of teaching him how to fish. It is a very short-term attempt at fixing an ongoing problem. Plus, by introducing foreign antibodies into someone, you will be conditioning them to produce an antibody against that antibody, just like they would for any alien molecule. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/4 "2020-02-27T02:22:06Z")
> [@jasg](#): > > See immunogl Damn, that coronavirus is fast acting. ---
**Author:** ![jasg](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f0a364/32.png) [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/5 "2020-02-27T02:26:09Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > Damn, that coronavirus is fast acting. Caught by the slow hamsters… seems to be worse these days. Slackers. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 2:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/6 "2020-02-27T02:59:33Z")
> [@joemama24\_98](#): > > The whole coronavirus thing got me thinking this. I would imagine the immune response a person has to a virus is on the same “fighting grounds” as the virus itself, meaning similar in substance, form, and nature. > > Is there any evidence of acquired immunity via antibody sharing? Is it possible that viral outbreaks might be self-limiting once enough people have been infected and survive and can transmit their antibodies, much like a virus does? BTW, I’m not even fully sure what you mean by this, but you seem to not quite grasp what viruses and antibodies are. Coming up with an analogy on the fly, hope it works: You know those resturants you see on TV sometimes where you see the waiter/waitress clip a written order on a clip thingy and the cook then takes the orders down and prepares them? Well, a virus is like someone with weird taste who sneaks in and places an order of their own on the clip and the credulous cook makes anything written down withiut question. So instead of making orders for paying customers, the cook attempts to make the 20,000 broccoli samosas on the order while all the customers starve to death and the restaurant goes bankrupt. (It isn’t a perfect analogy, but the food sneak slipping in an order to make 20,000 more food sneaks is kinda weird.) An antibody is nothing like that, and us the completed meal made from a recipe. (A meal of food sneak poison?) it is really an apples and suspension bridges comparison. ---
**Author:** ![EmbarrassingDad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/embarrassingdad/32/5441_2.png) [@EmbarrassingDad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EmbarrassingDad)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/7 "2020-02-27T03:40:27Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So instead of making orders for paying customers, the cook attempts to make the 20,000 broccoli samosas on the order while all the customers starve to death I think this might be the best analogy I’ve ever seen in my life. Kudos, my friend. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/8 "2020-02-27T06:19:35Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So instead of making orders for paying customers, the cook attempts to make the 20,000 broccoli samosas on the order while all the customers starve to death and the restaurant goes bankrupt. Forgive me, I am somewhat ignorant of biology, but in your analogy what does the cook represent? ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 6:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/9 "2020-02-27T06:21:03Z")
> [@joemama24\_98](#): > > Is there any evidence of acquired immunity via antibody sharing? Is it possible that viral outbreaks might be self-limiting once enough people have been infected and survive and can transmit their antibodies, much like a virus does? > > Everything I’ve been taught is that it’s MY immune system that has learned to fight a virus, and not something that perhaps my body learned through transmission of a viral response from others. > > It’s know that mothers can pass both viral infection and antibodies to children in the womb, but is there any evidence that antibodies can spread through other vectors? > > Vaccines clearly don’t work this way, but why not? Instead of vaccinating with a benign virus signature that a person’s immune system develops a defense against, why can’t we we do the opposite (replicate and spread antibodies via injection). A virus is something that your body starts copying when it enters your body. That’s because a virus (by definition) is something that has evolved this unusual specialization, to trick your cells into copying the virus’s genetic material. But your body doesn’t naively start copying _anything_ that’s put into it’s body. Exogenous antibodies can help treat an infection temporarily. But your body won’t just start _copying_ exogenous antibodies any more than taking an aspirin tablet will cause your body to start making its own aspirin. Immunity to infection is acquired by exposure to the disease, not by exposure to the cure. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/10 "2020-02-27T06:27:21Z")
> [@Alley\_Dweller](#): > > Forgive me, I am somewhat ignorant of biology, but in your analogy what does the cook represent? Your body’s own cellular machinery, subverted by a virus into making more virus. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 6:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/11 "2020-02-27T06:42:18Z")
Sure is; remember all the talk about people who recovered from Ebola donating their blood (or specifically, plasma) to victims, in order to kick-start their immune systems? This has also been done for related diseases like Lassa or Marburg disease, and before we had vaccines, we had gamma globulin for measles and rabies, and antitoxin for diphtheria and tetanus, and those are still used in people who are un- or inadequately vaccinated, or whose status is unknown. ---
**Author:** ![Riemann](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/riemann/32/3133_2.png) [@Riemann](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riemann)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 7:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/12 "2020-02-27T07:19:06Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Sure is; remember all the talk about people who recovered from Ebola donating their blood (or specifically, plasma) to victims, in order to kick-start their immune systems? The blood plasma contains antibodies. These exogenous antibodies may help treat the disease temporarily, giving the patient’s own immune system more time to mount its own response. But infusion with exogenous antibodies does not transfer immunity. Immunological memory is acquired only when your own T- and B-cells are exposed to the _pathogen_. You then develop memory cells that are primed to respond much more rapidly to a second infection with the same pathogen. Think of it this way. Your immune system is a weapons factory, and specific antibodies are a weapon that the factory produces. If the factory is not tooled up to produce the right weapons to fight a particular invader, donating weapons can help temporarily. But donating weapons won’t retool the factory. ---
**Author:** ![Melbourne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b5e925/32.png) [@Melbourne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Melbourne)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/13 "2020-02-27T11:06:46Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Sure is; remember all the talk about people who recovered from Ebola donating their blood (or specifically, plasma) to victims, in order to kick-start their immune systems? This has also been done for related diseases like Lassa or Marburg disease,. And for SARS-CoV-2/COVID-19 Now that there are people who have recovered and can donate blood, the Chinese are also working with plasma. It’s in the treatment option recommendations, but I think that only the Chinese have enough people to have started production and treatment. I think that in the rest of the world, it’s just intensive care and generic anti-viral drugs. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [February 27, 2020, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-antibodies-capable-of-being-share-between-people-in-the-same-manner-as-viruses/848590/14 "2020-02-27T12:28:43Z")
Not only does it work, but we evolved to have a built in method to do this exact thing as breastmilk contains antibodies, perhaps the placenta would also allow this, but breastmilk is a closer match for the purpose it seems you want. Here is a link to it’s effectiveness. > **[How long do babies carry their mother's immunity?](https://www.nhs.uk/common-health-questions/childrens-health/how-long-do-babies-carry-their-mothers-immunity/)** > > Read about how long babies inherit immunity against certain infections from their mother. This is known as passive immunity.