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Can Neglected Tropical Diseases Compromise Human Wellbeing in Sex-, Age-, and Trait-Specific Ways?
- Source :
- PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases, Vol 10, Iss 4, p e0004489 (2016), PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Publication Year :
- 2016
- Publisher :
- Public Library of Science (PLoS), 2016.
-
Abstract
- Traits that facilitate competition for reproductive resources or that influence mate choice have evolved to signal resilience to infectious disease and other stressors. As a result, the dynamics of competition and choice can, in theory, be used to generate predictions about sex-, age-, and trait-specific vulnerabilities for any sexually reproducing species, including humans. These dynamics and associated vulnerabilities are reviewed for nonhuman species, focusing on traits that are compromised by exposure to parasites. Using the same approach, sex-, age-, and trait-specific vulnerabilities to parasitic disease are illustrated for children’s and adolescent’s physical growth and fitness. Suggestions are then provided for widening the assessment of human vulnerabilities to include age-appropriate measures of behavioral (e.g., children’s play) and cognitive (e.g., language fluency) traits. These are traits that are likely to be compromised by infection in age- and sex-specific ways. Inclusion of these types of measures in studies of neglected tropic diseases has the potential to provide a more nuanced understanding of how these diseases undermine human wellbeing and may provide a useful means to study the efficacy of associated treatments.
- Subjects :
- Male
0106 biological sciences
0301 basic medicine
Ascaris Lumbricoides
Nematoda
Social Sciences
Review
Biochemistry
Pediatrics
01 natural sciences
Developmental psychology
Fats
Families
Sociology
Medicine and Health Sciences
Public and Occupational Health
Child
Children
Ecology
Reproduction
lcsh:Public aspects of medicine
Ascaris
Child Health
Neglected Diseases
Cognition
Lipids
Sociological Factors
Phenotype
Trichuris
Infectious Diseases
Mate choice
Parasitic disease
Trait
Neglected tropical diseases
Female
lcsh:Arctic medicine. Tropical medicine
Adolescent
lcsh:RC955-962
Biology
010603 evolutionary biology
03 medical and health sciences
medicine
Humans
Animals
Social Stratification
Parasite Evolution
Behavior
Stressor
Organisms
Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health
Biology and Life Sciences
lcsh:RA1-1270
medicine.disease
Invertebrates
Social stratification
030104 developmental biology
Age Groups
Infectious disease (medical specialty)
People and Places
Quality of Life
Population Groupings
Parasitology
Subjects
Details
- Language :
- English
- ISSN :
- 19352735 and 19352727
- Volume :
- 10
- Issue :
- 4
- Database :
- OpenAIRE
- Journal :
- PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases
- Accession number :
- edsair.doi.dedup.....c271b1efdeea89864f33fac113978663