Abstract
THIS was the subject of a Chadwick lecture delivered by Sir Weldon Dalrymple Champneys at Manson House, London, on December 9. Microbial diseases, he said, can be defined as a disturbance of health in man or other living things due to the presence of parasitic organisms, as a disturbance of the equilibrium between host and parasite unfavourable to the host. The reactions of any host to the presence of pathogenic organisms are numerous and complex, but are not mutually exclusive. Thus, the parasite may be rapidly killed by defensive mechanisms of the host's body, without giving rise to any symptoms of disease, or it may cause a local reaction known as inflammation. Fever is also a common result of infection, and tends to be a protective mechanism. Sir Weldon dwelt on the fact that a ‘carrier state’ may be established either following illness with apparent recovery without complete destruction of the invading parasite, or in consequence of a ‘silent’ infection without actual disease.
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Modern Views on Infection and Disinfection. Nature 138, 1046–1047 (1936). https://doi.org/10.1038/1381046c0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/1381046c0