Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting (phagocytosing) harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. They are essential for fighting infections and for subsequent immunity.[2] Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom[3] and are highly developed within vertebrates.[4] One litre of human blood contains about six billion phagocytes.[5] They were first discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae.[6] Mechnikov was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery.[7] Phagocytes occur in many species; some amoebae behave like macrophage phagocytes, which suggests that phagocytes appeared early in the evolution of life.[8]