Life, Death and the Immune System: Scientific American : A Special Issue

From before birth until death, the human body fights infection with a complex, constantly alert network of diverse molecules and cells - the immune system. Without this natural defense, we could not survive.The ongoing AIDS crisis and other public health concerns have put research into the immune system on the front page and on the evening news. Written by leading scientists for a general audience, Life, Death and the Immune System provides authoritative answers to the fundamental questions often asked about the body's fight against infectious disease. The articles contained here describe the latest understanding of immune processes in action, including how and when the immune system takes shape; how it learns to tolerate the tissues, cells, and proteins they are defending; how it unmasks bacteria, parasites, and viruses attempting to conceal themselves; and how it can be augmented to respond to specific infections and diseases.Life, Death and the Immune System also looks at what happens when natural defenses fail to react or overreact, with articles describing the current state of AIDS research, new revelations about autoimmunity (the misguided assaults by the immune system that lead to multiple sclerosis and a surprising number of other chronic diseases) , and new ideas for preventing and controlling allergies.