Infectious Diseases and HIV Conference

This is the body's defense against infectious agents like bacteria, viruses, fungi, and parasites. Knowing how immunity works will help scientists in the long run to make efficient vaccines and therapies that will help in the fight of infectious diseases.

The next session covers the principle types of immunity, with a discussion on the immune response towards pathogens and public health implications. It can be divided into two broad categories: innate and adaptive immunity. This is the first line of host defense. Immediate nonspecific protection is provided against pathogens. In this session, the participants will be introduced to the critical components of innate immunity, including the physical barriers, which are the skin and mucous membranes, the immune cells (macrophages and neutrophils), and inflammatory responses.

Adaptive immunity, for instance, also requires time to develop and provides specific immunity against specific pathogens. During the session, participants will be guided on the role of T cells and B cells in adaptive immunity, such as clonal selection, memory, and the formation of antibodies. Immunological memory is emphasized as the mechanism of protection against secondary infections over time. The process of immune response is coordinated and very complicated, involving many immune cells and signaling molecules. In this session, the different stages of immune responses will be discussed, from the recognition of pathogens to activation of the respective immune cells leading to the elimination of an infectious agent.

Participants will analyze different case studies about infections, namely influenza, HIV, and COVID-19, in relation to how the immune system works against the pathogens and factors that affect the effectiveness of the immune response. Vaccination is an essential approach to building immunity and preventing infectious diseases.

To be communicated in this session, of course, should be the theoretical concepts of vaccination, with a proper description of how vaccines work to promote immunity against specific pathogens without causing disease. Participants will also be exposed to various kinds of vaccines, namely live attenuated, inactivated, mRNA, and subunit vaccines, through their mechanisms of action.

Actually, though its appreciable strength and fast reaction to evil invaders, there are many areas where the immune system must face specific challenges: among these, in fact, are immune evasion by some pathogens, immunodeficiency disorders, and autoimmune diseases.

This session will be addressing these challenges, discussing how some pathogens may evade detection by the immune system and what this means for the development of vaccines as well as in the management of diseases.

Also in this session, participants will become aware of new findings in immunotherapy and how to exploit them for modulation of the immune response in immunocompromised or cancer patients.