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Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists?
In host–parasite co-evolution, parasites are assumed to have an advantage owing to their shorter generation time. Evolution of pathogens within the lifetime of a host individual is implicated as a strong selective force in the evolution of sex and aging in the host. However, this assumption or its t...
Autores principales: | , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer India
2020
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7145937/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32345783 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12038-020-0025-x |
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author | Baig, Ulfat Laxmi, Vidhya Ojha, Akanksha Watve, Milind |
author_facet | Baig, Ulfat Laxmi, Vidhya Ojha, Akanksha Watve, Milind |
author_sort | Baig, Ulfat |
collection | PubMed |
description | In host–parasite co-evolution, parasites are assumed to have an advantage owing to their shorter generation time. Evolution of pathogens within the lifetime of a host individual is implicated as a strong selective force in the evolution of sex and aging in the host. However, this assumption or its testable predictions have not been examined empirically. We classified infectious bacteria and viruses into those that can have continued long-term existence on the host body (group 1) versus those that have only a short-term interaction during an active infection (group 2). We surveyed the literature for age-specific incidence data about infections from both the groups. The age trends of the two groups show contrasting patterns. The incidence of infections by all group 1 pathogens showed a 2.28- to 28-fold increase in older ages. In group 2, 6 out of the 9 pathogens showed a significant declining trend in incidence with age. In both groups, there was greater mortality or morbidity among the infected in the old-age classes. These patterns are better explained by pathogen evolution than by age-related decline in immunity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12038-020-0025-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-7145937 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2020 |
publisher | Springer India |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-71459372020-04-10 Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? Baig, Ulfat Laxmi, Vidhya Ojha, Akanksha Watve, Milind J Biosci Article In host–parasite co-evolution, parasites are assumed to have an advantage owing to their shorter generation time. Evolution of pathogens within the lifetime of a host individual is implicated as a strong selective force in the evolution of sex and aging in the host. However, this assumption or its testable predictions have not been examined empirically. We classified infectious bacteria and viruses into those that can have continued long-term existence on the host body (group 1) versus those that have only a short-term interaction during an active infection (group 2). We surveyed the literature for age-specific incidence data about infections from both the groups. The age trends of the two groups show contrasting patterns. The incidence of infections by all group 1 pathogens showed a 2.28- to 28-fold increase in older ages. In group 2, 6 out of the 9 pathogens showed a significant declining trend in incidence with age. In both groups, there was greater mortality or morbidity among the infected in the old-age classes. These patterns are better explained by pathogen evolution than by age-related decline in immunity. ELECTRONIC SUPPLEMENTARY MATERIAL: The online version of this article (10.1007/s12038-020-0025-x) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users. Springer India 2020-04-10 2020 /pmc/articles/PMC7145937/ /pubmed/32345783 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12038-020-0025-x Text en © Indian Academy of Sciences 2020 This article is made available via the PMC Open Access Subset for unrestricted research re-use and secondary analysis in any form or by any means with acknowledgement of the original source. These permissions are granted for the duration of the World Health Organization (WHO) declaration of COVID-19 as a global pandemic. |
spellingShingle | Article Baig, Ulfat Laxmi, Vidhya Ojha, Akanksha Watve, Milind Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? |
title | Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? |
title_full | Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? |
title_fullStr | Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? |
title_full_unstemmed | Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? |
title_short | Geriatric infections: Decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? |
title_sort | geriatric infections: decreased immunity or evolved opportunists? |
topic | Article |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7145937/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/32345783 http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s12038-020-0025-x |
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