CLINICAL Immunology PRINCIPLES AND PRACTICE

Clinical immunology is a discipline with a distinguished history, rooted in the prevention and treatment of infectious diseases in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The conquest of historical scourges such as smallpox and (substantially) polio and relegation of several other diseases to the category of medical curiosities is often regarded as the most important achievement of medical science of the past fifty years. Nevertheless, the challenges facing immunologists in the efforts to control infectious diseases remain formidable; HIV infection, malaria, and tuberculosis are but three examples of diseases of global import that elude control despite major commitments of monetary and intellectual resources.