Take inflammation: a defensive response, where immune cells rush to the site of an injury or infection, leading to swelling, redness, and heat. It’s important for protecting the body against threats; without it, we’d be riddled with infections. But it becomes a problem if it spreads throughout the body, lasts too long, or launches at the slightest provocation: that leads to asthma, arthritis, and other inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. So, inflammation must be triggered at the right time, and controlled appropriately. Suppressing it is as important as activating it. Microbes do both.
