Viral–bacterial interactions within hosts

Coinfections with pathogens that have opportunistic or synergistic mechanisms of action pose important clinical challenges. Treatment of dual infections can be hampered by dysregulation of the host immune response, synergistic pathogenesis of infectious agents, and compromise of therapeutics by the host response or mixed drug regimens. Understanding the mechanistic basis for coinfection pathogenesis is key to improving existing therapies and informing novel clinical approaches. This chapter summarizes our current understanding of pathophysiological mechanisms for bacterial coinfections that are important causes of morbidity and mortality in patients with influenza or human immunodeficiency virus infection.