I share Alfred Nobel's conviction that war is the greatest of all human disasters. Infectious disease runs a good second.

The need to deal with pathogens has driven the evolution of the vertebrate immune system, so it should not be surprising that experiments with infectious agents have often illuminated key elements of the underlying mechanisms.

It's explosive, it's infectious.

Mr. Lawson is definitely appealing this conviction.

This year, 1996, has been designated the 'Year of the Vaccine,' commemorating the 200th anniversary of Edward Jenner's vaccination of James Phipps with cowpox virus and subsequent challenge with smallpox virus. Insight into the nature of viruses, and how viruses interact with mammalian cells, has evolved since the turn of the century.

Many key concepts concerning the nature of immunity have originated from the very practical need to control virus infections.