Hundreds of different species colonize multicellular organisms making them "metaorganisms". A growing body of data supports the role of microbiota in health and in disease. Grasping the principles of host-microbiota interactions (HMIs) at the molecular level is important since it may provide insights into the mechanisms of infections. The crosstalk between the host and the microbiota may help r...

Meningococcal disease remains a significant global public health and is unique among causes of bacterial meningitis and sepsis where it not only causes sporadic disease but also outbreaks. Meningococcal disease has a rapid onset with high mortality. The understanding of immunopathogenesis is crucial for development of novel therapeutic strategies and vaccines designed against meningococcal dise...

The main purpose of this paper has been to discuss the effects of psychological stress and other environmental factors on incidence of diseases. We were specifically concerned with stress that increased susceptibility of uninfected hosts when exposed to infection. If such stresses also reduced resources, fecundity and/or survivorship, there was a reduction in the host carrying capacity. In addi...

Chagas disease was discovered by Carlos Chagas in Brazil in 1909 (1). It is caused by the pathogenic protozoan Trypanosoma cruzi, member of Trypanosomatidae family, Kinetoplastida order. Chagas disease is recognized by the World Health Organization as one of the main neglected tropical diseases, affecting about 8–15 million individuals in 18 countries in Central and South America, where it is e...

there is growing evidence that lectin-carbohydrate interactions can mediate the infection of parasites to their insect vector. many insect species are host or vectors of protozoan or metazoan parasites that cause socially and economically important disease such as malaria and leishmaniasis. however, relatively little work has been undertaken concerning the interaction of insect immunity against...