What do you mean by 'immunological evasion'?

The correct answer is A strategy of parasites to evade a host's immune response for their survival probability

Explanation:

• Immunological evasion refers to the ability of pathogens (including parasites, bacteria, viruses, and fungi) to avoid or suppress the host's immune system to ensure their survival and replication.
• The immune system is the body's defense mechanism designed to identify and eliminate foreign invaders, but some pathogens have evolved strategies to "evade" this defense.
• Parasites and other pathogens employ complex mechanisms to evade immune responses, ensuring their survival in the host. This process often contributes to prolonged infections, chronic diseases, or host damage.

Pathogens use various strategies, including:

• Antigenic variation: Pathogens frequently change the proteins on their surface (antigens) to avoid being recognized by the host's immune system.
• Immune suppression: Some pathogens produce molecules that suppress the immune response, reducing the ability of the host to fight back effectively.
• Camouflage: Some pathogens mimic host molecules to escape detection by the immune system.
• Intracellular hiding: Certain pathogens hide inside host cells to avoid immune detection.
• Examples:
  • Plasmodium (causative agent of malaria) uses antigenic variation to evade the immune system.
  • HIV suppresses immune cells, including T-helper cells, to avoid detection and destruction.