The complex relationships between infectious organisms and their hosts often reflect the
continuing struggle of the pathogen to proliferate and spread to new hosts, and the need of …

Pathogenic microbes have evolved highly sophisticated mechanisms for colonizing host
tissues and evading or deflecting assault by the immune response. The ability of these …

Many bacterial pathogens are exquisitely adapted to host parasitization. Their niche is
primarily determined by the biochemical milieu of the host. As such, pathogens are selected …

The extent to which organisms can protect themselves from disease depends on both the
immune defenses they maintain and the pathogens they face. At the same time, immune …

Microbes are vital to the functioning of multicellular organisms. This realisation has fuelled
great interest in the effects of microbes on the health of plant [1–3] and animal hosts [4–6] …

The new fields of ecological immunology and disease ecology have begun to merge, and
the classic fields of immunology and epidemiology are beginning to blend with them. This …

The field of human genetics of infectious diseases defines the genes and alleles rendering
individuals (clinical genetics) and populations (epidemiological genetics) vulnerable to …

Infections are one of the major selective pressures acting on humans, and host-pathogen
interactions contribute to shaping the genetic diversity of both organisms. Evolutionary …

Most species seem to be completely resistant to most pathogens and parasites. This
resistance has been called “nonhost resistance” because it is exhibited by species that are …

The hygiene hypothesis relies on the assumption that humans have adapted to a pathogen-
rich environment that no longer exists in industrialized societies. Recent advances in …