Prugnolle F., Lefèvre Thierry, Renaud F., Moller A. P., Missé Dorothée, Thomas F. (2009). Infection and body odours : evolutionary and medical perspectives. Infection Genetics and Evolution, 9 (5), p. 1006-1009. ISSN 1567-1348.
Titre du document
Infection and body odours : evolutionary and medical perspectives
Prugnolle F., Lefèvre Thierry, Renaud F., Moller A. P., Missé Dorothée, Thomas F.
Source
Infection Genetics and Evolution, 2009,
9 (5), p. 1006-1009 ISSN 1567-1348
Infections are often followed by a change in body odours. For a long time, these changes were considered as non-specific (with no adaptive value) but recent evidences suggest that this may not always be true. Odour modifications due to an infection may either be of adaptive value for the parasite or the host. Here, we describe the observations in support of this idea, discuss the potential roles these modifications may play for the parasite and the host and propose a set of future directions that we think should allow to better understand the mechanisms at the origin of these modifications and how they may be used by both parasites and their human hosts.
