This book deals with the fascinating set of diseases in which the immune system turns traitor and begins to attack the body. The attack may take many forms, culminating in serious skin disease, or disorders affecting the joints, heart, lungs, kidneys, and central nervous system, to name only a few of the possibilities. While the severity of the diseases varies considerably, as many as one in twenty people develop an autoimmune disease at some point during their lifetime. Friendly Fire is the first book to explain the nature of these diseases for a general audience.For each of these conditions, the authors provide a short historical guide, followed by a comprehensive description of the components of the normally functioning immune system. The authors explain how autoimmune diseases develop and how they interact to cause potentially lethal conditions. They highlight the enormous diversity of self-destructive diseases along with current types of treatment and the exciting range of recent ideas about future therapy.