HIV didn’t just add another disease; it reactivated latent TB and spiked mortality, reversing decades of decline in rich countries. Health gains that look stable can collapse when a new condition reshapes host immunity and transmission dynamics.
— Policy and forecasting must model disease interactions, not single pathogens, or risk dangerous complacency in pandemic and chronic‑disease planning.
Emily Putnam-Hornstein, Naomi Schaefer Riley
2025.10.03
68% relevant
The piece frames rising infant deaths as downstream of interacting epidemics—maternal drug use, congenital syphilis, prematurity/SIDS—mirroring the 'syndemics' dynamic where co‑occurring conditions reverse expected health gains.
EditorDavid
2025.09.13
72% relevant
The study suggests viral infections can activate dormant bacterial biofilms in atherosclerotic plaques, triggering inflammation and plaque rupture—an interaction effect between pathogens that aligns with syndemic dynamics beyond infectious disease to acute cardiovascular events.
Fiona Spooner
2025.07.28
85% relevant
The article highlights HIV as a major driver of progression from latent to active TB, showing how co-infections amplify mortality and can reverse gains—exactly the syndemic dynamic described.
Fiona Spooner
2025.06.30
100% relevant
In 1993, HIV‑positive patients made up nearly half of U.S. TB cases but 82% of TB deaths, showing how one epidemic transformed another.