The preparation of Aging, Immunity, and Infection has been a "labor of labor. " When we began, there existed a huge literature-but manage able, we thought, given our years of experience in the area often referred to as immunogerontology. However, in the time that we have been at work, the new relevant literature has increased at a prodigious rate. The more we read and tried to assimilate, the farther we fell behind. In order to have any hope of completing a book on this rapidly evolving topic, we have been forced to become increasingly selective in covering new and re cent publications. We dare to hope that many read ers will find the book useful and only a few will dweIl on the inevitable inadequacies. We consider the book a work in progress, and welcome suggestions for future editions. Five chapters cover several aspects of infection and the decline of immunity with age. The first chapter "Human Aging: Present and Future," is devoted to demographics and theories of senescence. Chap ter 2 outlines the gradual breakdown of resistance to infection in the aged individual. Chapters 3 and 4 cover changes in innate and acquired immunity. The final chapter, "Nutrition, Longevity, and Integrity of the Immune System," discusses such provocative ideas as life-span exten sion and nutritional intervention for the delay of immunosenescence.

With a growing world population of the aged in a state of immunological decline, there is an urgent need to develop new methods to delay or, better yet, prevent the loss of immune function. In Aging, Immunity, and Infection, the prominent immunogerontologists Joseph and Julia Albright, critically review the major features and functions of the immune system that are most likely, or known, to be significantly altered by aging, and offer insightful analyses of the consequences for those aging subjects who must cope with infection. Topics of special interest include the demographics and theories of immunosenescence, the gradual breakdown of resistance to infection in the aged, and the effects of aging on selected mechanisms of both innate and adaptive immunity to infections. The Albrights also suggest how advances may be made in understanding the basic biology of immunosenescence, newer methods of treatment and prevention, and offer an evaluation of such provocative ideas as nutritional intervention and lifespan extension in immunosenescence. Chapter summaries-along with lists of key research areas and recent advances-provide a framework for greater insight into major aspects of the problem and its emerging solutions.
Informative and forward-looking, Aging, Immunity, and Infection offers geriatricians, infectious disease specialists, and immunologists a state-of-the-art understanding of the deleterious effects of aging on the immune system, even as it provides a basis for research on how best to strengthen immunity in the elderly and reduce their susceptibility to infectious diseases.

"This is a forward-looking book. The two authors provide their synthesis of a very broad and dense field in most interesting ways. Their writing is elegant and annotated. That they can interpolate research and comments made 20 years ago into what is being discovered today is a manifestation of their excellent mastery of the area. They bring it all together in the last chapter by describing what they think would be interesting areas of research in the future. The comments about how caloric restriction may work in the body's resistance to infectious diseases, and the relationship of the gut to overall immune function are profound and insightful. How refreshing it is to see a really good example of scientific writing and thinking." -Doody's Health Sciences Book Review Journal

"This book thoroughly reviews bacterial and viral infections, the innate and adaptive immune responses that occur in infection, and the effect of age on infection. This book is also a good review of host-pathogen interactions, even for those not interested in age-related defects in immune function." -American College of Physicians