Virus–virus interactions impact the population dynamics of influenza and the common cold

The human respiratory tract hosts a diverse community of cocirculating viruses that are responsible for acute respiratory infections. This shared niche provides the opportunity for virus-virus interactions which have the potential to affect individual infection risks and in turn influence dynamics of infection at population scales. However, quantitative evidence for interactions has lacked suitable data and appropriate analytical tools. Here, we expose and quantify interactions among respiratory viruses using bespoke analyses of infection time series at the population scale and coinfections at the individual host scale. We analyzed diagnostic data from 44,230 cases of respiratory illness that were tested for…

• NS
  National Science Foundation

  Award: DEB1216040
• RA
  Rural and Environment Science and Analytical Services Division
• DF
  Directorate for Biological Sciences
• MR
  Medical Research Council

  Awards: MC_UU_12014, MC_UU_12014/9, MC_UU_12014/9
• BA
  Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council

  Awards: BB/N013336/1, BB/L018926/1, BB/L004070/1, BB/L004828/1, BB/L004828/1, BB/R012679/1, BB/K01126X/1, BB/L018926/1, BB/R012679/1, BB/K01126X/1, BB/L004070/1
• DO
  Division of Environmental Biology

  Award: DEB1216040