What does the term co-infection mean? What happens when two viruses infect us at the same time and why is it important for our health? This and much more in this episode of The Viral Talk.

But also, a new host joins the show, episodes take on a new structure, and we answer questions from the audience.

Key takeaways:

- A co-infection occurs when two or more pathogens infect the same host at the same time

- There are multiple types of co-infections, as we can be infected by bacteria, parasites and viruses, and different types of co-infections have different effects on our bodies

- There are multiple types of viral co-infections as well - we can be infected by different strains of the same virus (e.g. Flu), different viruses that infect the same type of cells (e.g. SARS-CoV-2 and RSV) or different viruses that infect different parts of our body (e.g. HIV and HepC)

- For a long time it was assumed that co-infections would worsen the outcome of the individual infections, but researchers have found that this is not necessarily the case

- Vaccines against commonly co-occurring pathogens are being tested.

For the sciency people:

Why won't different strains of flu be friends? - https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pbio.3001941

Hep C and HIV co-infection review - 10.3748/wjg.v8.i4.577

RSV and SARS-CoV-2 in mice - 10.1101/2023.05.24.542043

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