Infection and inflammation

Inflammation is a complex host reaction to foreign substances or cell and tissue injury. It can be caused by foreign microorganisms or by the immune system attacking its own tissue.

Inflammation is initiated in the peripheral blood vessels that become permeable to plasma proteins and immune cells, which leave the blood stream, and recruited to, and decontaminate microorganisms and dead cells in the tissue. Inflammation has a protective function but it can also induce tissue damage and disease. This can lead to damage to the host tissue. Normally, this damage is repaired when the inflammation wears off. If the infection is not eliminated or the tissue damage remains, the inflammation can become chronic.

Many infections are caused by viruses, which can be harder to treat than bacteria. The development of vaccines and antibiotics has reduced many serious infectious diseases. Overuse of antibiotics has, however, led to widespread resistance to many antibiotics, e.g. staphylococcus (MRSA) and Gram-negative bacteria but also against other microorganisms such as tuberculosis bacteria.

Research in the field of inflammation at LiU stretches over a broad area. Important areas are the origin and treatment of allergies and autoimmune diseases, vaccines and human genetic factors in virus infections, inflammation in mucus membranes, tuberculosis, resistance to antibiotics, tick-borne infections, and the role of inflammation in cardiovascular disease.

Areas of research

• Immunology
• Infectious medicine
• Clinical microbiology
• Medical microbiology
• Rheumatology
• Viruses