PBL 1 - Immunology & Rheumatology 1: Welcome

Immunology is a branch of medicine and biology that covers the medical study of the immune system and/or immunity - the range of defenses developed by the human body to protect itself.  Immunological disorders caused by a dysfunction of the immune system could include allergy, asthma, autoimmune disease, autoinflammatory syndromes, and immunological deficiency syndromes.

Rheumatology is a branch of medicine devoted to the diagnosis and management of disorders whose common feature is inflammation in the bones, muscles, joints, and internal organs.  The subject covers 100+ different complex diseases including the many forms of arthritis and lupus; collectively they are known as rheumatic diseases.  Many of these are now known to be disorders of the immune system; the overlap between rheumatology and immunology are why these two subjects are paired so well together.