Co-infection

Co-infection is the simultaneous infection of a host by multiple pathogen species. For instance, viral infections often predispose patients to bacterial infections. Patients presenting co-infections will often have a worse outcome than patients presenting mono-infection.

The impact of multiple pathogen infections

Simultaneous infection with multiple pathogens is common in humans. The majority of reports show these coinfections to be detrimental to human health. Although individual pathogens are problematic, a pathogen’s disease potential can be magnified in diverse and significant ways by their relationship with other pathogens. Establishing the nature and consequences of pathogen-pathogen interactions during coinfection as well as identifying individuals at risk of multiple pathogen infection will aid in the design and evaluation of worldwide disease management programmes. Current work aims to understand the impact of simultaneous helminth infection and respiratory viral (RSV and IAV) co-infections on pneumococcal carriage and disease.