1.3 Chronic inflammation
Chronic inflammation is seen in diseases where there is persistent infection, usually because the pathogen can resist the body's immune defences. If the infection is cleared, chronic inflammation resolves, but residual damage may still be evident in the tissues. Chronic inflammation also occurs in many autoimmune diseases; in autoimmunity the target of the immune response is one of the body's own proteins or cellular components, and consequently the stimulus for inflammation cannot be cleared, although the condition may improve if the normal controls that prevent autoimmune reactions are restored.