ArticleFrontiers in public health2024
Association between heavy metals exposure and persistent infections: the mediating role of immune function.
Article in Frontiers in public health, 2024. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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Who cites it
9 citing papers in PubMed.
- Comprehensive sub-chronic toxicological profiling of illegal artisanal small-scale mining-polluted river bodies in four regions of Ghana.Toxicology reports · 2026Article
- Heavy metals and prevalence of sexually transmitted infections: a cross-sectional study using data from the National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 2003-2016.BMC infectious diseases · 2026Article
- Prenatal exposure to metal(loid)s mixture and childhood lung function: Exploring sex-specific associations.Environmental epidemiology (Philadelphia, Pa.) · 2025Article
- Association of urinary metal exposure with H. pylori seropositivity and mortality in the U.S. Population: NHANES 1999-2000 analysis.BMC gastroenterology · 2025Article
- Immune-Epigenetic Effects of Environmental Pollutants: Mechanisms, Biomarkers, and Transgenerational Impact.Current issues in molecular biology · 2025Review
- Epitranscriptomic alterations induced by environmental toxins: implications for RNA modifications and disease.Genes and environment : the official journal of the Japanese Environmental Mutagen Society · 2025Review
- Comparative Mutational Analysis and the Glycosylation Patterns of a Peruvian Isolated Avian Influenza A Virus H5N1: Exploring Possible Viral Spillover Events Within One Health Approach.Veterinary sciences · 2025Article
- Investigating Bergamot Essential Oil (BEO) Properties: Cytoprotection in Neuronal Cells Exposed to Heavy Metals and Antibacterial Activities.Antioxidants (Basel, Switzerland) · 2025Article
- Protective role of dietary zinc on DNA damage, oxidative stress, and metal toxicity.Frontiers in molecular biosciences · 2025Review
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
13 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Introduction: Persistent infections caused by certain viruses and parasites have been associated with multiple diseases and substantial mortality. Heavy metals are ubiquitous environmental pollutants with immunosuppressive properties. This study aimed to determine whether heavy metals exposure suppress the immune system, thereby increasing the susceptibility to persistent infections. Methods: Using data from NHANES 1999-2016, we explored the associations between heavy metals exposure and persistent infections: Cytomegalovirus (CMV), Epstein-Barr Virus (EBV), Hepatitis C Virus (HCV), Herpes Simplex Virus Type-1 (HSV-1), Results: Logistic regression analysis revealed positive associations between multiple heavy metals and the increased risk of persistent infections. In WQS models, the heavy metals mixture was associated with increased risks of several persistent infections: CMV (OR: 1.58; 95% CI: 1.17, 2.14), HCV (OR: 2.94; 95% CI: 1.68, 5.16), HSV-1 (OR: 1.25; 95% CI: 1.11, 1.42), Discussion: The findings of this study revealed that heavy metals exposure may increase susceptibility to persistent infections, with the host's immune status potentially mediating this relationship. Reducing exposure to heavy metals may have preventive implications for persistent infections, and further prospective studies are needed to confirm these findings.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.