Pathogens are faced with a number of physical barriers upon entry in their animal host, whether it be the mucocilliary escalator of the respiratory tract or the acidic environment of the stomach. Following this, they must also overcome innate immune cells expressing pattern recognition receptors that are specialised in identifying and eliminating invading pathogens. During the course of co‐evolution, all forms of life have developed sophisticated means by which they can respond to, and fight infection and in turn, pathogens have evolved even more complex mechanisms to subvert these efforts. These mechanisms, such as effector molecules or lifestyle advantages, have always drawn significant attention for their possible exploitation as therapeutic targets. With the rise of antibiotic resistance already at catastrophic levels in some countries, the search for exploitable, novel strategies to target virulence mechanisms is at an all‐time high.

Mechanisms employed by pathogens to evade the host innate and adaptive immune responses, as well as therapeutic interventions, come in many flavours, and while it is tempting to highlight them all, we can distil them down to a few fundamental concepts; concealment, disruption and destruction. Each of these concepts underpins an important evolutionary advantage that bacteria, fungi, viruses and parasites use to ensure their survival.

病原体在进入其动物宿主时面临许多物理障碍，无论是呼吸道的黏液纤毛自动扶梯还是胃的酸性环境。在此之后，他们还必须克服表达模式识别受体的先天免疫细胞，这些受体专门用于识别和消除入侵的病原体。在共同进化的过程中，所有生命形式都发展出复杂的手段来应对和对抗感染，反过来，病原体也进化出更复杂的机制来破坏这些努力。这些机制，例如效应分子或生活方式优势，一直因其可能作为治疗靶点而受到广泛关注。随着抗生素耐药性在一些国家已经达到灾难性水平，

病原体用于逃避宿主先天性和适应性免疫反应的机制以及治疗干预有多种形式，虽然很容易强调所有这些，但我们可以将它们提炼为几个基本概念；隐瞒、破坏和破坏。这些概念中的每一个都支持细菌、真菌、病毒和寄生虫用来确保其生存的重要进化优势。