Visiting sick people: is it really detrimental to our health?

Intuitively, keeping ones distance from a source of infection would appear to be the best way to limit the occurrence of disease. However, this overlooks the importance of repeated infections in maintaining efficient immune defenses. When acquired immunity has partly waned, re-exposure to the pathog...

Descripción completa

Guardado en:
Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: David Fouchet, John O'Brien, Dominique Pontier
Formato: article
Lenguaje:EN
Publicado: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2008
Materias:
R
Q
Acceso en línea:https://doaj.org/article/e378aad4d4594b16953ebdd5fd840518
Etiquetas: Agregar Etiqueta
Sin Etiquetas, Sea el primero en etiquetar este registro!
Descripción
Sumario:Intuitively, keeping ones distance from a source of infection would appear to be the best way to limit the occurrence of disease. However, this overlooks the importance of repeated infections in maintaining efficient immune defenses. When acquired immunity has partly waned, re-exposure to the pathogenic agent may lead to mild disease that boosts the immune system. This prevents the total loss of immunity that would lead to classical disease in cases of re-infection. Here, using a mathematical model, we show that avoiding the pathogenic agent is detrimental in some situations, e.g. for pathogens that are highly transmissible, are not excessively lethal and that induce rapidly waning immunity. Reducing exposure to pathogenic agents is among the objectives of most, if not all, public health measures. A better understanding of the factors influencing the severity of a disease is required before applying measures that reduce the circulation of pathogenic agents.