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Prakash Nagarkatti, Professor of Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, University of South Carolina

What is inflammation? Two immunologists explain how the body responds to everything from stings to vaccination and why it sometimes goes wrong

Bacteria Arthritis National Institutes of Health
Insect bites or stings, like the one on this person's hand, are a manifestation of inflammation. Suthep Wongkhad/EyeEm via Getty Images

When your body fights off an infection, you develop a fever. If you have arthritis, your joints will hurt. If a bee stings your hand, your hand will swell up and become stiff. These are all manifestations of inflammation occurring in the body.

We are two immunologists who study how the immune system reacts during infections, vaccination and autoimmune diseases where the body starts attacking itself.

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