Human airways are regularly in contact with a wide variety of potential pathogens. In
response, we have developed strategies to protect ourselves. As many of these organisms
have developed mechanisms to help them bypass immune defenses, so has the human
immune system developed a complex array of overlapping strategies to counter them. In
bronchiectasis, the balance between host and pathogen has been tipped in favor of the
assailants. Not only are there often one or more deficits in the immune response that has led …