title: The influence of host factors on the outcome of a viral infection.
abstract: The clinician confronted with a patient that has an infectious disease, particularly one caused by a virus, faces a series of difficult problems: diagnostic confirmation of the infection, instituting appropriate therapy, duration of treatment, preventing secondary complications, and preventing transmission of the virus to susceptible animals. Yet, it is the complex relationship between the patient, as host to a pathogenic virus, the virus, and the environment that ultimately influences the clinical course of an infection. The ability to accurately prognose the outcome of any infection is, therefore, predicated on the clinician's awareness of biological and environmental variables that apply to the individual patient.
mesh_terms: D000375:Aging; D000818:Animals; D004198:Disease Susceptibility; D004777:Environment; D007116:Immunization, Passive / Q000662:veterinary; D009752:Nutritional Status; D013312:Stress, Physiological / Q000662:veterinary; D014777:Virus Diseases / Q000276:immunology / Q000662:veterinary*