Mucosal immunity in resource-limited setting: is the battle ground different?

Sarah J Glennie, Neil A Williams, Robert S Heyderman

Research output: Contribution to journalArticle (Academic Journal)peer-review

17 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

In many developing countries, populations are under considerable pressure from high bacterial exposure on mucosal surfaces. Immune dysregulation in this setting is multifactorial and is driven by a range of environmental factors, undernutrition and coinfections such as measles, malaria and HIV. Disruption or subversion of respiratory-tract and intestinal epithelial barriers leads to increased invasion by mucosal pathogens and a high frequency of life-threatening bacterial disease. It is our opinion that a process of epithelial barrier dysfunction and immune dysregulation at these mucosal surfaces leads to the much higher rates of pneumonia, meningitis and severe sepsis seen in resource-limited countries.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)487-93
Number of pages7
JournalTrends in Microbiology
Volume18
Issue number11
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Nov 2010

Bibliographical note

Copyright © 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Socioeconomic Factors
  • Bacterial Infections
  • Humans
  • Immunity, Mucosal
  • Developing Countries

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