Understanding Immunity through the Lens of Disease Ecology

Publication date: Available online 4 September 2017
Source:Trends in Immunology
Author(s): Stephen M. Hedrick
As we describe the immune system in ever more exquisite detail, we might find that no matter how successful, this approach will not be sufficient to understand the spread of infectious agents, their susceptibility to vaccine therapy, and human disease resistance. Compared with the strict reductionism practiced as a means of characterizing most biological processes, I propose that the progression and outcome of disease-causing host–parasite interactions will be more clearly understood through a focus on disease ecology.



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