An important question (and certainly very important to me!).
This is a not-very-long but comprehensive posting on the NY Times Health blog, looking at both experimental animal studies and human studies.
The tentative conclusion is that intensive exercise can indeed suppress the body's immune response. On the other hand, experiments with mice indicate that mild exercise can help the immune system.
Phys Ed: Does Exercise Boost Immunity? – Well Blog – NYTimes.com
Why exercise should affect either your susceptibility to catching an illness or how badly a particular bug affects you is still unclear. But it does appear that intense workouts and racing suppress the body’s immune response for a period of time immediately after you’ve finished exercising and that “the longer the duration and the more intense” the exercise, “the longer the temporary period of immunosuppression lasts — anything from a few hours to a few days has been suggested,” …
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