CommunitieS of paThOgens: a cRiminal conspiracY – STORY

Studies of infectious disease systems have typically tended to focus solely on the interaction between a host and a causative agent. This approach, inherited from medical methodology, has served epidemiologists well, especially for antigenically stable pathogens, such as measles or chickenpox. However, it is becoming increasingly evident that a broader perspective may be necessary and pathogens cannot be considered separately anymore.
Indeed, numerous recent publications have identified interactions between pathogens in empirical dataset, especially through an alteration of host immune system or ecological interference between populations who are susceptible to become infected. Documented on a wide range of systems, from animal species to plant systems through human populations, the influence of pathogens interactions on epidemiological dynamics remains poorly understood. More importantly, including such interactions within a perspective of “pathogen community” would allow understanding how these communities behave and thus can inform public health policies. This is the perfect example of how fundamental knowledge in ecology can bring crucial insights into medical sciences.
Relying on a dataset describing infection history at 12 different pathogen species across more than 4,500 individuals located within all different Gabonese provinces, we take the advantage of this unique opportunity to reach three main objectives: (i) detecting pathogen interactions at an individual level (ii) characterizing the structure of pathogen community at a population level and figuring out how such structure could emerge from pathogen interactions and (iii) identifying the characteristics of pathogen communities that could improve strategies of infectious diseases control. Such objectives make possible to inform public health authorities about the consequences, for each control strategy envisioned, on the alteration of pathogen community. These objectives will also allow to identify areas that can be considered as a potential hotspot for infectious diseases emergence because their specific structure of pathogen community.
Thus, this project, deeply rooted within ecological thinking, will allow a better fundamental comprehension of ecological mechanisms involved in pathogen communities assemblage as well as may help to prevent, or even mitigate, devastating effects of pathogen epidemics.