Post-infectious immune suppression: a new paradigm of severe infections

Infectious diseases remain a major public health issue in both developing and developed countries. For instance, there is still a high rate of morbidity and mortality due to seasonal influenza outbreaks and severe bacterial sepsis, despite major advances in their prevention and treatment. It is now clear that severe influenza and bacterial infections promote susceptibility for superinfections worsening the prognosis. Various immune defects acquired during severe infection may result in complex immunosuppression and may affect both innate and adaptive components. Some animal models of these common clinical situations have demonstrated the increased susceptibility of infected hosts to secondary infectious insult and allowed assessing the regulatory mechanisms. Such pathophysiological advances may help create new immunomodulatory therapeutics for infected patients exposed to severe secondary sepsis.