Overview of the book

Immunology is old: at least half a billion years for adaptive immunology and far longer for innate immunity. The study of immunology is, however, more of a Johnny-come-lately, with a history of scientific study stretching back only a few hundred years, although an empirical or phenomenological understanding of it probably reaches far into antiquity. Accounts litter the historical record. An example, that is often quoted, can found in the works of Thucydides. He was the principal historian of the Peloponnesian War, which raged between the Spartan AlHance and Greek city-state of Athens. The plague struck in the early summer of 430 BC and continued through the following year; after abating greatly, the plague returned again in 427 BC. Its initial effects were devastating: over a third of Athens population succumbed.