Abstract
Immunosenescence is an age-related malfunction of the immune system, which could be accompanied by an increased susceptibility to infections. Many infections occur more common in older individuals and it could be associated with higher morbidity and mortality. During senescence, physiological condition provides situation that causative agents causing infection change, and there is a shift in organisms involved during infection and comorbidies of infection with greater diversity are more common than those occurred in younger adults. Increased risks and acquiring many types of infections with severe clinical outcome occurred in part due to impairment of immune defenses that might be aggravated by chronic infections, malnutrition, and prolonged medication received during ageing.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Avelino-Silva VI, Ho YL, Avelino-Silva TJ et al (2011) Aging and HIV infection. Ageing Res Rev 10(1):163–172
Buchholz VR, Neuenhahn M, Busch DH (2011) CD8<sup>+</sup>T cell differentiation in the aging immune system: until the last clone standing. Curr Opin Immunol 23(4):549–554
Caruso C, Buffa S, Candore G et al (2009) Mechanisms of immunosenescence. Immun Ageing 6(10)
Choi C (2001) Bacterial meningitis in aging adults. Clin infect dis 33(8):1380–1385
Effros RB (2007) Role of T lymphocyte replicative senescence in vaccine efficacy. Vaccine 25(4):599–604
Gomez CR, Nomellini V, Faunce DE et al (2008) Innate immunity and aging. Exp Gerontol 43(8):718–728
Meyer KC (2001) The role of immunity in susceptibility to respiratory infection in the aging lung. Respir Physiol 128(1):23
Ogra PL (2010) Ageing and its possible impact on mucosal immune responses. Ageing Res Rev 9(2):101–106
Tiihonen K, Ouwehand AC, Rautonen N (2010) Human intestinal microbiota and healthy ageing. Ageing Res Rev 9(2):107
Yoshikawa T, Norman D (2009) Infectious disease in the aging: a clinical handbook. Humana Press, New York
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Shekarabi, M., Asgari, F. (2014). Aging Immunity and Infection. In: Massoud, A., Rezaei, N. (eds) Immunology of Aging. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39495-9_17
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-39495-9_17
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-39494-2
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-39495-9
eBook Packages: MedicineMedicine (R0)