Gastrointestinal diseases present a considerable problem in human
medicine in terms of both morbidity and mortality. The aim of this book
is to cover the different immunological disorders of the gut with
special reference to immunopathological and protective mechanisms. It
will be of general interest to clinicians, scientists and students
concerned with the gastrointestinal tract.
Topics covered include: the current status of research into
toxin-secreting pathogens, Campylobacter, Giardia and HIV; the
immunological features of idiopathic inflammatory gut diseases such as
Crohn's disease and intractable diarrhoea; the genesis of the flat
mucosa; the iatrogenic diseases of the gut such as graft-versus-host
disease and small bowel allografts; the immune mechanisms and lesions in
the gut of patients with parasitic nematode infections (very important
in the tropics).
Basic background on the immune apparatus in the intestine is also
discussed, as are the effects of inflammation on intestinal
permeability.