Microbial Virulence as an Emergent Property

publication Evidence: moderate

Author Information

Author(s): Arturo Casadevall, Ferric C. Fang, Liise-anne Pirofski

Primary Institution: Albert Einstein College of Medicine

How does microbial virulence emerge from the interaction between host and microbe?

Microbial virulence is an unpredictable emergent property that can only be expressed in a susceptible host.

Microbial virulence can only be expressed in a susceptible host.
The same microbe can be virulent in one host but avirulent in another.
Emerging infections are becoming more frequent due to various factors including global travel and environmental changes.
Three-fourths of emerging pathogens are zoonotic, meaning they come from animals.

Some germs can make animals sick or even cause extinction, and how sick they make someone can depend on the person and the germ together.

The unpredictability of host-microbe interactions makes it difficult to predict outcomes.

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