| Summary: | Infectious diseases often involve immunopathological complications and sometimes these inappropriate immune responses cause more harm than the pathogen itself. Extracellular vesicles (EV) are now acknowledged as major players in cell-cell communication and, thereby, in homeostasis and pathophysiology. While they have been described originally in the 1960s, it is only recently that they have been examined from the angle of disease pathogenesis. The release of EV is an integral part of any immune response. As such, overproduction of EV from all immune cell types, including endothelial cells and platelets, has been documented in numerous infectious diseases. The participation of EV in immune-mediated complications has been demonstrated in experimental models, including cerebral malaria, tuberculosis, sepsis or West-Nile virus infection. 1. We will define the various EV subtypes and focus on current understanding of the heterogeneity of microvesicles and exosomes. 2. We will discuss the properties that enable EV to act as mediators of immunopathology in some bacterial, parasitic and viral infections
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