War Within Us (eBook)

Front Cover 1
The War Within us: Everyman's guide to infection and immunity 2
Copyright Page 3
CONTENTS 4
Preface 8
Introduction 9
PART 1: THE PARASITE VERSUS THE HOST 12
Chapter 1. The parasite versus the host 14
Parasitism as a way of life 14
But parasites have problems 22
Problems for the host 28
A rogue's gallery of microbial parasites of humans 30
PART 2: HOW WE DEFEND OURSELVES 34
Chapter 2. Surfaces barriers and the early defences 36
Body surfaces 36
Inflammation – it feels bad but is a wonderful device 41
The phagocytes, essential weapons in the early defences 44
Chemical weapons interferons and other substances in early defence
Chapter 3. Immune defences 54
A royal experiment and the beginnings of immunology 54
The immune system 56
Chapter 4. Chinks in the armour things that go wrong with our defences
Faulty surface defences 83
Faulty phagocytes 85
Faulty immune response 86
Can drugs stimulate the immune system? 88
The brain speaks to the immune system what happens during stress
Our defences are affected by age 91
The sexual perspective on host defence 94
The impact of host genes on defence 95
Nutrition and host defence 96
The puzzle of pollutants and host defence 100
PART 3: THE MICROBE'S RESPONSE TO OUR DEFENCE 102
Chapter 5. Breaching the early defences 104
A microbe with good answers 104
Special devices for attaching to the body and entering it 108
Doing damage to the surface defences 110
Coping with the physical environment 111
Getting enough food 111
Coping with interferons and complement 111
Outmanoeuvring the phagocyte 113
Chapter 6. How to evade immune defences 120
A dozen devious devices 123
Arranging for exit 140
PART 4: THE DISEASE 144
Chapter 7. From residents to big killers 146
Unexpected intruders round the eyes 146
The residents 147
How diseases are named 156
Signs and symptoms 157
The big killers 159
Big killers from long ago 164
Chapter 8. How microbes cause disease 168
Most microbes don't 168
The microbe releases a toxin 171
The microbe on its own does the damage 177
The host injures itself 178
The microbe causes cancer as a late effect 187
The microbe stays forever 191
Microbes as possible culprits, etc 197
Chapter 9. Thumbnail sketches of seven selected diseases 202
Syphilis and civilization 202
Measles and its invasion plan 207
Typhoid a trail of illness from a slippery cook
Prion diseases the mystery and the menace
The common cold gets commoner 217
Malaria triumphant 220
Legionnaires' disease a fresh-water bacterium leaps at the opportunity
PART 5: WHAT THE FUTURE HOLDS 224
Chapter 10. The threat of new diseases 226
Old diseases remain as a threat 230
What Does it takes to eradicate a microbe, once and for all? 231
Where would new diseases come from? 232
Chapter 11. Our answers to infectious diseases 242
Hygiene 243
Antimicrobial drugs 248
Vaccines 250
Natural therapy 257
Thoughts on the very distant future 260
Selected reading 262
Glossary 264
Index 282