Tolerating, not fighting, viruses a viable survival strategy
Friday, September 19, 2014 - 01:02
in Health & Medicine
In ecology, disease tolerance is defined as a host strategy not to fight a pathogen tooth and nail, but rather tolerate it to live (and survive) better in the long term. One key feature of tolerance is that the disease only progresses very slowly -- if at all -- even if the host carries a high pathogen load. In some HIV sufferers, this approach is evident. A research team has now determined how strongly patients differ in their tolerance and upon which factors it depends.
