Abstract

The virulence of bacteria in many phagocytic systems has been studied for several years and it is known that macrophages play an important role in host defence against invading microorganisms and in cooperation with cellular and humoral immune mechanisms. Pathogenic bacteria can be divided into two groups with regard to their fate within phagocytes: (a) extracellular bacteria which are promptly killed after phagocytosis and (b) facultative intracellular bacteria which are resistant to intracellular killing unless macrophages are activated. Humoral immune mechanisms (antibody, complement) deal mainly with extracellular bacteria, while cellular immune mechanisms (T cells, macrophages) deal with facultative intracellular bacteria (Hahn 1983).

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