Any sort of "foreign" substance can, and most often will, elicit an immune response under certain curcumstances--provided the immune system is healthy. This would include bacteria, viruses and fungi.
Related: An unhealthy, or compromised immune system can act in all sorts of undesirable ways, ranging from low response to threat or injury to actually creating antibodies to attack its own system or other organs and tissue.
A pathogen activates the immune system...
antigens
antigens
The medical term for a foreign substance is "antigen." An antigen is any substance that the immune system identifies as foreign and triggers an immune response.
Immune System
Antigen
Antigen
a toxin or other foreign substance that induces an immune response in the body, especially the production of antibodies.
An antigen is a foreign body. It is used as a "template" to begin an appropriate immune response.
A response of the body to an invasion of foreign substances is inflammation. The immune system will also produce more white blood cells and send them to the site of the infection.
Antigenan·ti·gen/ˈantijən/Noun:A toxin or other foreign substance that induces an immune response in the body, esp. the production of antibodies.
Lymphocytes
An antigen is a foreign substance that provokes an immune response in the body. Examples of antigens are: bacteria, pollen grains and large carbohydrates.
No, although there is a hypothesis that prion diseases are associated with an undetected viral pathogen.
Antigen refers to any foreign substance which on entering the body stimulates the production of antibodies in the body of the individual as a part of the immune response. These foreign substances can be toxins, bacteria, virus, foreign blood cells or the cells of the transplated organs.