Structure and Cells of Mucosal Tissues -- The Intestinal Epithelium: The Interface Between Host and Pathogen -- Structure of the Respiratory and Female Genitourinary Tracts -- Immunology of Mucosal Tissues -- The Mucosal B-Cell System -- Bridging Mucosal Innate Immunity to the Adaptive Immune System -- Intestinal Bacteria: Mucosal Tissue Development and Gut Homeostasis -- Gastrointestinal Pathogens -- Mucosal Immune Responses Against Enterotoxigenic Escherichia coli [ETEC] in Humans -- Cholera Immunity and Cholera Vaccination -- Helicobacter pylori Pathogenesis and Vaccines -- Immunology of Norovirus Infection -- Intestinal and Systemic Immunity to Rotavirus in Animal Models and Humans -- Respiratory Pathogens -- Mucosal Control of Streptococcus pneumoniae Infections -- Neisseria meningitidis -- Mucosal Immunity Against Anthrax -- Structure, Immunopathogenesis and Vaccines Against SARS Coronavirus -- Influenza Virus Pathogenesis and Vaccines -- Genital Pathogens -- Immunity Against Chlamydia trachomatis -- HIV and the Mucosa: No Safe Haven -- Mucosal Vaccination Against HIV-1 -- Mucosal Vaccine Approaches -- Formulations and Delivery Systems for Mucosal Vaccines. Surprisingly what separates us from the open environment all around us sometimes is a single layer of epithelial cells. It is at these seemingly fragile sites that most pathogens, including HIV, influenza, emerging and biodefense agents, gain access to our inside milieu. While there are major similarities between the cells and the immune responses generated at the mucosal membranes of the gastrointestinal and respiratory tracts together with the genitourinary tract, there are also important differences. Knowledge of these differences and similarities is required in order to understand the interactions between us, as the host, and the pathogens that attack through each tract, and how our immune system reacts to each of them. Whether we want to devise rational prophylactic or therapeutic vaccines or treatments to either prevent or treat mucosal infections we must acquire such knowledge. This is the rationale behind putting this book together. This book will provide the readers in the areas of vaccinology, virology, bacteriology, epidemiology, immunology and mucosal immunology within academia (undergraduate, graduate, post doctoral fellows and professors), as well as preclinical and clinical scientists in vaccine and drug industries a thorough appreciation of the mucosal immune system and its importance in protecting humans against mucosal pathogens.