About this Research Topic
Infectious diseases are among the leading causes of death in the world. Every year, infections of the lower respiratory tract cause about 3 million deaths, diarrheal diseases cause the death of 1.4 million individuals, tuberculosis kills around 1.3 million people, HIV / AIDS causes about 1 million deaths, and malaria approximately 435.000. In 2020, a new infectious disease, COVID-19, whose etiologic agent is the SARS-CoV-2 virus, has so-far caused about 1.16 million deaths and has infected around 44 million people.
Protection against infectious diseases is provided by innate and adaptive immunity and the magnitude and effectiveness of immune defenses are strongly influenced by a range of host-factors. Since the 1980s and 1990s, there has been a greater appreciation that physical activity can have a powerful effect on the immune function. The field of “exercise immunology”, has seen around 5000 experimental and review articles being published to date. The influence that physical activity can have on many aspects of immune function has been thoroughly investigated, but some cells, processes and infections have received more attention than others. Thus, an effort needs to be made to examine these understudied topics.
Exercise and habitual physical activity are beneficial for overall health, reducing the risk of chronic disease. Parameters, such as the intensity and duration of exercise can have different effects on the immune system. For example, moderate-intensity exercise can stimulate a Th1-type cellular immune response, helping to eliminate intracellular infections, such as viral infections of the upper respiratory tract. Other evidence shows that high-intensity exercise can stimulate a Th2-type response, consisting of an anti-inflammatory cytokine pattern, which might be particularly beneficial for responding to extracellular parasites.
With the above context in mind, this Research Topic welcomes articles which explore:
• the effects that physical activity and exercise can have on the immune response to infections caused by viruses, protozoa, helminths, fungi, and bacteria;
• studies which measure or manipulate exercise, physical activity, physical inactivity, sedentary behavior or associated conditions (e.g. bed rest, obesity);
• arduous exercise and the risk of opportunistic infections;
• physical activity, exercise, lifestyle, and vaccination;
• therapeutic response and recovery from infectious diseases;
• mechanisms by which exercise and lifestyle modulate immune responses to pathogens.
We welcome all article types and particularly encourage the submission of articles that investigate infections which have received very little attention in the exercise immunology literature.
Protection against infectious diseases is provided by innate and adaptive immunity and the magnitude and effectiveness of immune defenses are strongly influenced by a range of host-factors. Since the 1980s and 1990s, there has been a greater appreciation that physical activity can have a powerful effect on the immune function. The field of “exercise immunology”, has seen around 5000 experimental and review articles being published to date. The influence that physical activity can have on many aspects of immune function has been thoroughly investigated, but some cells, processes and infections have received more attention than others. Thus, an effort needs to be made to examine these understudied topics.
Exercise and habitual physical activity are beneficial for overall health, reducing the risk of chronic disease. Parameters, such as the intensity and duration of exercise can have different effects on the immune system. For example, moderate-intensity exercise can stimulate a Th1-type cellular immune response, helping to eliminate intracellular infections, such as viral infections of the upper respiratory tract. Other evidence shows that high-intensity exercise can stimulate a Th2-type response, consisting of an anti-inflammatory cytokine pattern, which might be particularly beneficial for responding to extracellular parasites.
With the above context in mind, this Research Topic welcomes articles which explore:
• the effects that physical activity and exercise can have on the immune response to infections caused by viruses, protozoa, helminths, fungi, and bacteria;
• studies which measure or manipulate exercise, physical activity, physical inactivity, sedentary behavior or associated conditions (e.g. bed rest, obesity);
• arduous exercise and the risk of opportunistic infections;
• physical activity, exercise, lifestyle, and vaccination;
• therapeutic response and recovery from infectious diseases;
• mechanisms by which exercise and lifestyle modulate immune responses to pathogens.
We welcome all article types and particularly encourage the submission of articles that investigate infections which have received very little attention in the exercise immunology literature.
Keywords: Physical activity, immune response, infection, microrganisms, virus, helminths, exercise immunology
Important Note: All contributions to this Research Topic must be within the scope of the section and journal to which they are submitted, as defined in their mission statements. Frontiers reserves the right to guide an out-of-scope manuscript to a more suitable section or journal at any stage of peer review.
