Abstract
The relationship between humans and microorganisms is usually one of balanced conflicts. Encounters with microorganisms in the first months of life are both a threat and a stimulus to the development of complex immune responses (Wansbrough-Jones and Wright, 1997). Humans are constantly exposed to potentially pathogenic microorganisms yet clinical infections are rare events and fatal infections even rarer (Greenwood, 2000). To become infected a person must be exposed to an infective dose of a microorganism to which he or she is susceptible and the host and microorganism must be brought together by environmental factors. Considering the ubiquity of many pathogens, severe infections are relatively uncommon, but pathogens survive better if the host is not incapacitated or killed (Mayon-White, 2000).
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© 2004 Norma Whittaker
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Whittaker, N. (2004). Infectious Diseases. In: Disorders and Interventions. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21399-9_11
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-230-21399-9_11
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