Understanding Infectious Disease Treatment: Chemotherapy & Immunotherapy

The two ways to treat infectious diseases are chemotherapy and immunotherapy.

- Chemotherapy uses chemicals to kill or inhibit the growth of microorganisms.

- Immunotherapy uses the body's own immune system to fight infection. This can be done using vaccines, which expose the body to a weakened or killed form of the microorganism so that the body can develop immunity to it, or using antibody therapy, which uses antibodies to target and destroy specific microorganisms.