TY - JOUR
T1 - Host-pathogen interactions
T2 - The attributes of virulence
AU - Casadevall, Arturo
AU - Pirofski, Liise anne
N1 - Funding Information:
Received 16 February 2001; revised 24 April 2001; electronicallypublished 27 June 2001. Financial support: National Institutes of Health (awards AI33774, AI3342, and HL-59842–01 to A.C.; grants AI35370 and 45459 to L.P.); Burroughs Wellcome Development Therapeutics award (to A.C.). Both authors contributed equally to this work. Reprints or correspondence: Dr. Arturo Casadevall, Dept. of Medicine, 1300 Morris Park Ave., Bronx, NY 10461 (casadeva@aecom.yu.edu).
PY - 2001/8/1
Y1 - 2001/8/1
N2 - Virulence is one of a number of possible outcomes of host-microbe interaction. As such, microbial virulence is dependent on host factors, as exemplified by the pathogenicity of avirulent microbes in immunocompromised hosts and the lack of pathogenicity of virulent pathogens in immune hosts. Pathogen-centered views of virulence assert that pathogens are distinguished from nonpathogens by their expression of virulence factors. Although this concept appears to apply to certain microbes that cause disease in normal hosts, it does not apply to most microbes that cause disease primarily in immunocompromised hosts. The study of virulence is fraught with the paradox that virulence, despite being a microbial characteristic, can only be expressed in asusceptible host. Thus, the question "What is a pathogen?" begs the question, "What is the outcome of thehost-microbe interaction?" We propose that host damage provides a common denominator that translates into the different outcomes of host-microbe interaction.
AB - Virulence is one of a number of possible outcomes of host-microbe interaction. As such, microbial virulence is dependent on host factors, as exemplified by the pathogenicity of avirulent microbes in immunocompromised hosts and the lack of pathogenicity of virulent pathogens in immune hosts. Pathogen-centered views of virulence assert that pathogens are distinguished from nonpathogens by their expression of virulence factors. Although this concept appears to apply to certain microbes that cause disease in normal hosts, it does not apply to most microbes that cause disease primarily in immunocompromised hosts. The study of virulence is fraught with the paradox that virulence, despite being a microbial characteristic, can only be expressed in asusceptible host. Thus, the question "What is a pathogen?" begs the question, "What is the outcome of thehost-microbe interaction?" We propose that host damage provides a common denominator that translates into the different outcomes of host-microbe interaction.
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U2 - 10.1086/322044
DO - 10.1086/322044
M3 - Review article
C2 - 11443560
AN - SCOPUS:0035425835
SN - 0022-1899
VL - 184
SP - 337
EP - 344
JO - Journal of Infectious Diseases
JF - Journal of Infectious Diseases
IS - 3
ER -