Departamento de Electromagnetismo y Física de la Materia, e Instituto Carlos I de Física Teórica y Computacional, Universidad de Granada, E-18071 Granada, Spain.
J R Soc Interface. 2021 Jun;18(179):20210153. doi: 10.1098/rsif.2021.0153. Epub 2021 Jun 16.
It has been recently discovered that the measles virus can damage pre-existing immunological memory, destroying B lymphocytes and reducing the diversity of non-specific B cells of the infected host. In particular, this implies that previously acquired immunization from vaccination or direct exposition to other pathogens could be partially erased in a phenomenon named 'immune amnesia', whose effects can become particularly worrisome given the actual rise of anti-vaccination movements. Here, we present the first attempt to incorporate immune amnesia into standard models of epidemic spreading by proposing a simple model for the spreading of two concurrent pathogens causing measles and another generic disease. Different analyses confirm that immune amnesia can have important consequences for epidemic spreading, significantly altering the vaccination coverage required to reach herd immunity. We also uncover the existence of novel propagating and endemic phases induced by immune amnesia. Finally, we discuss the meaning and consequences of our results and their relation with, e.g. immunization strategies, together with the possibility that explosive types of transitions may emerge, making immune-amnesia effects particularly dramatic. This work opens the door to further developments and analyses of immune-amnesia effects, contributing also to the theory of interacting epidemics on complex networks.
最近发现，麻疹病毒可破坏预先存在的免疫记忆，从而破坏 B 淋巴细胞并减少受感染宿主中非特异性 B 细胞的多样性。特别是，这意味着以前通过接种疫苗或直接接触其他病原体获得的免疫可能会在一种称为“免疫健忘”的现象中部分消除，鉴于反疫苗接种运动的实际兴起，这种现象的影响可能变得特别令人担忧。在这里，我们首次尝试通过提出一种同时传播两种病原体（导致麻疹和另一种普通疾病的病原体）的简单模型，将免疫健忘纳入流行传播的标准模型中。不同的分析证实，免疫健忘对流行病传播可能具有重要影响，显著改变了达到群体免疫所需的疫苗接种覆盖率。我们还发现了由免疫健忘引起的新型传播和地方性阶段的存在。最后，我们讨论了我们的结果的意义和后果及其与免疫策略等的关系，以及可能出现爆发式的转变，使免疫健忘的影响特别显著。这项工作为进一步研究和分析免疫健忘的影响开辟了道路，也为复杂网络上相互作用的传染病理论做出了贡献。
