Immune-neural connections: how the immune system's response to infectious agents influences behavior.

ABSTRACT: Humans and animals use the classical five senses of sight, sound, touch, smell and taste to monitor their environment. The very survival of feral animals depends on these sensory perception systems, which is a central theme in scholarly research on comparative aspects of anatomy and physiology. But how do all of us sense and respond to an infection? We cannot see, hear, feel, smell or taste bacterial and viral pathogens, but humans and animals alike are fully aware of symptoms of sickness that are caused by these microbes. Pain, fatigue, altered sleep pattern, anorexia and fever are common symptoms in both sick animals and humans. Many of these physiological changes represent adaptive responses that are considered to promote animal survival, and this constellation of events results in sick

SUBMITTER: McCusker RH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3515033 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature