Doenhoff MJ, Davies AJ. Hypothesis: impaired immunity as a factor which contributes to the spread of drug-resistance.
Parasitology 1992;
105 Suppl:S103-5. [PMID:
1308926 DOI:
10.1017/s0031182000075417]
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Abstract
Evidence has accrued to indicate that host defence mechanisms enhance the efficacy of many of the drugs used to treat infectious diseases. Because of this, and also because of the likelihood of increased pathogen loads in immunoincompetent hosts, some infections are less likely to be completely cured by normal regimens of chemotherapy in individuals with drastically impaired immune responsiveness. In such circumstances natural selection could result in the accelerated emergence of drug-resistance pathogens.
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