Trace Metals and Infectious Diseases

Experts explore the influence of trace metals on the pathogenesis of infectious diseases.. Many parts of the world in which common infectious diseases are endemic also have the highest prevalence of trace metal deficiencies or rising rates of trace metal pollution. Infectious diseases can increase human susceptibility to adverse effects of metal exposure (at suboptimal or toxic levels) and metal excess or deficiency can increase the incidence or severity of infectious diseases. The co-clustering of major infectious diseases with trace metal deficiency or toxicity has created a complex web of interactions with serious but poorly understood health repercussions yet has been largely overlooked in animal and human studies. This book focuses on the distribution trafficking fate and effects of trace metals in biological systems. Its goal is to enhance our understanding of the relationships between homeostatic mechanisms of trace metals and the pathogenesis of infectious diseases.. Drawing on expertise from a range of fields the book offers a comprehensive review of current knowledge on vertebrate metal-withholding mechanisms and the strategies employed by different microbes to avoid starvation (or poisoning). Chapters summarize current state-of-the-art techniques for investigating pathogen-metal interactions and highlight open question to guide future research. The book makes clear that improving knowledge in this area will be instrumental to the development of novel therapeutic measures against infectious diseases.. ContributorsM. Leigh Ackland Vahid Fa Andisi Angele L. Arrieta Michael A. Bachman J. Sabine Becker Robert E. Black Julia Bornhorst Sascha Brunke Joseph A. Caruso Jennifer S. Cavet Anson C. K. Chan Christopher H. Contag Heran Darwin George V. Dedoussis Rodney R. Dietert Victor J. DiRita Carol A. Fierke Tamara Garcia-Barrera David P. Giedroc Peter-Leon Hagedoorn James A. Imlay Marek J. Kobylarz Joseph Lemire Wenwen Liu Slade A. Loutet Wolfgang Maret Andreas Matusch Trevor F. Moraes Michael E. P. Murphy Maribel Navarro Jerome O. Nriagu Ana-Maria Oros-Peusquens Elisabeth G. Pacyna Jozef M. Pacyna Robert D. Perry John M. Pettifor Stephanie Pfaffen Dieter Rehder Lothar Rink Anthony B. Schryvers Ellen K. Silbergeld Eric P. Skaar Miguel C. P. Soares Kyrre Sundseth Dennis J. Thiele Richard B. Thompson Meghan M. Verstraete Gonzalo Visbal Fudi Wang Mian Wang Thomas J. Webster Jeffrey N. Weiser Günter Weiss Inga Wessels Bin Ye Judith T. Zelikoff Lihong Zhang