Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role?

When we contract an infection, we typically feel sick and behave accordingly. Symptoms of sickness behavior (SB) include anorexia, hypersomnia, depression, and reduced social interactions. SB affects species spanning from arthropods to vertebrates, is triggered nonspecifically by viruses, bacteria,...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Shakhar, Keren, Shakhar, Guy
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: Public Library of Science 2015
Materias:
Unsolved Mystery
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4608734/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26474156
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002276
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author Shakhar, Keren
Shakhar, Guy
author_facet Shakhar, Keren
Shakhar, Guy
author_sort Shakhar, Keren
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description When we contract an infection, we typically feel sick and behave accordingly. Symptoms of sickness behavior (SB) include anorexia, hypersomnia, depression, and reduced social interactions. SB affects species spanning from arthropods to vertebrates, is triggered nonspecifically by viruses, bacteria, and parasites, and is orchestrated by a complex network of cytokines and neuroendocrine pathways; clearly, it has been naturally selected. Nonetheless, SB seems evolutionarily costly: it promotes starvation and predation and reduces reproductive opportunities. How could SB persist? Former explanations focused on individual fitness, invoking improved resistance to pathogens. Could prevention of disease transmission, propagating in populations through kin selection, also contribute to SB?
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spelling pubmed-46087342015-10-29 Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role? Shakhar, Keren Shakhar, Guy PLoS Biol Unsolved Mystery When we contract an infection, we typically feel sick and behave accordingly. Symptoms of sickness behavior (SB) include anorexia, hypersomnia, depression, and reduced social interactions. SB affects species spanning from arthropods to vertebrates, is triggered nonspecifically by viruses, bacteria, and parasites, and is orchestrated by a complex network of cytokines and neuroendocrine pathways; clearly, it has been naturally selected. Nonetheless, SB seems evolutionarily costly: it promotes starvation and predation and reduces reproductive opportunities. How could SB persist? Former explanations focused on individual fitness, invoking improved resistance to pathogens. Could prevention of disease transmission, propagating in populations through kin selection, also contribute to SB? Public Library of Science 2015-10-16 /pmc/articles/PMC4608734/ /pubmed/26474156 http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002276 Text en © 2015 Shakhar, Shakhar http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are properly credited.
spellingShingle Unsolved Mystery
Shakhar, Keren
Shakhar, Guy
Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role?
title Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role?
title_full Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role?
title_fullStr Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role?
title_full_unstemmed Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role?
title_short Why Do We Feel Sick When Infected—Can Altruism Play a Role?
title_sort why do we feel sick when infected—can altruism play a role?
topic Unsolved Mystery
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4608734/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26474156
http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.1002276
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