Bacterial and Viral Co-Infection in the Intestine: Competition Scenario and Their Effect on Host Immunity

• Published in: International journal of molecular sciences Vol. 23; no. 4; p. 2311
• Main Authors: Lian, Siqi, Liu, Jiaqi, Wu, Yunping, Xia, Pengpeng, Zhu, Guoqiang
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 19.02.2022; MDPI
• Subjects: Adenoviruses; Antagonism; Bacteria; Bacterial infections; bacterial–viral co-infection; Diarrhea; Digestive system; E coli; Gastroenteritis; Immune system; Immunity; Inflammation; intestinal microbiome; Intestinal microflora; Intestine; Microbiomes; Mortality; Nervous system; neuroimmunity; nutritional immunity; Pathogenesis; Pathogens; Pediatrics; Review; signal transmission; Small intestine; Streptococcus infections; Viral infections; Viruses; nutritional immunity; intestinal microbiome; signal transmission; neuroimmunity; bacterial–viral co-infection
• ISSN: 1422-0067; 1661-6596; 1422-0067
• DOI: 10.3390/ijms23042311

Bacteria and viruses are both important pathogens causing intestinal infections, and studies on their pathogenic mechanisms tend to focus on one pathogen alone. However, bacterial and viral co-infections occur frequently in clinical settings, and infection by one pathogen can affect the severity of infection by another pathogen, either directly or indirectly. The presence of synergistic or antagonistic effects of two pathogens in co-infection can affect disease progression to varying degrees. The triad of bacterial-viral-gut interactions involves multiple aspects of inflammatory and immune signaling, neuroimmunity, nutritional immunity, and the gut microbiome. In this review, we discussed the different scenarios triggered by different orders of bacterial and viral infections in the gut and summarized the possible mechanisms of synergy or antagonism involved in their co-infection. We also explored the regulatory mechanisms of bacterial-viral co-infection at the host intestinal immune interface from multiple perspectives.