So as an immunologist, what's your best explanation of inflammation?

OK. Inflammation is the process by which the body deals with some kind of damage or infection and tries to repair that damage.

And it encompasses a series of events that we're all quite familiar with.

For example, if you have something on your skin, a cut or an insect bite, the first thing you notice is that it goes red and then it gets warm and then it may swell.

And all of that is to do with increased blood flow.

So then all of the resources that come in are there to either remove the infection or remove the dead tissue and then to repair the damage as closely as possible.

And that process usually restores the body to where it was occasionally if the damage is quite a big area of tissue.

So, Eleanor, how does the body get locked into that state of chronic inflammation? What's the difference between something that comes and goes when there's an immediate problem and something that just you can't get rid of?