[Stress and susceptibility to infection]

The influence of various stressors upon the human immune system, was and presently is the subject of many clinically oriented as well as experimental studies. Even though it is not always clear how relevant the reported observations are in behalf to the beginning, the course and the outcome of infectious, neoplastic and autoimmune diseases, there is hardly any doubt, that stress may influence multiple aspects of the immune answer. The sensitivity of the immune system to stress factors is not merely fortuitous, but is an indirect consequence of the regulatory reciprocal influences between the immune system and the central nervous system. These interconnections seem to represent building blocks of a long-loop regulatory feedback-system, which plays an important role in the coordination of stressors and psychological influences upon the course of infections and inflammatory diseases.