Marion Vittecoq, Health Ecology Researcher at the Tour du Valat, was chief editor of the book Les maladies infectieuses (Infectious Diseases) which has just been published by De Boeck.
The work describes the links between ecology and the evolution of our interactions with infectious agents and the pathologies they cause; a research area in which the Tour du Valat is a recognised specialist.
While the continuous progress in medicine since the last century has brought us greater well-being and undreamt of longevity, there are nevertheless many obstacles that remain, such as emerging diseases, resistance to antibiotics, and difficulties in treating cancers.
Ecological and evolutionary approaches to health and medicine, which have already enabled important advances, could prove decisive in responding to these challenges.
The authors provide a new vision of our complex and multiple relationships with pathogenic organisms, and the ways in which they have helped fashion our evolution and that of our societies.
By means of many examples of applications, they review the major steps already undertaken, and what still has to be done for these developments to benefit as many people as possible.
Written by doctors and researchers, this collective, transdisciplinary work gives an accessible description of the applications of evolutionary biology to the understanding of our past and present diseases, and enables us to foresee the concrete prospects opened up by these approaches.
By relating the history of some major diseases (Ebola virus, malaria, etc.) and providing us with the keys to understanding the principal mechanisms governing the evolution of virulence, transmission and resistance among pathogenic agents, it invites the reader to have a different view of infectious diseases and the ways to limit their impact.
Bibliographical reference: Vittecoq, M., Roche, B., Prugnolle, F. Renaud, F., Thomas, F. Les Maladies infectieuses. De Boeck Solal (2015), 364p. ISBN : 9782353272976
Contact the author: Marion Vittecoq (e-mail [1])