Inflammation
Encyclopedia article; The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, 2009
INFLAMMATION reaction of the body to injury or to infectious, allergic, or chemical irritation. The symptoms are redness, swelling...defenses, unable to destroy the offending organisms, try to enclose them in a mass of inflammatory cells. Certain types of inflammation result in pus formation, as in an abscess. The leukocytes destroy harmful microorganisms and dead cells, preventing...