Significance of interspecies and intraspecies interactions of microorganisms as a sub-organism level in the hierarchy of the epidemic process

Abstract

Currently, the epidemic process is considered a complex multilevel system, which involves the suborganismic (i.e., tissue, cellular, and molecular), organismic, and socio-ecosystem (population). In the human population, many pathogenic microorganisms circulate and may cause disease in humans simultaneously. As a rule, they exist in an associated state a universal phenomenon for the vast majority of representatives of the microworld. However, possible interrelationships between them and their reflection in the epidemic development process and its `manifestations, as a rule, has not been taken into account. In this study, based on an analysis of publications on the results of our own research by the authors and world literature, at the sub-organism level of the epidemic process there is an active inter- and intraspecies interaction among representatives of different types of microorganisms, realized through integration-competitive mechanisms. This interaction is reflected both at the organism and population levels of the epidemic process. Therefore, when conducting epidemiological studies, an integrative approach is needed to take into account processes happening at a suborganism level. Understanding that microorganisms actively interact with each other will significantly increase our ability to develop new approaches to protect organisms from infections, as well as adequately predict the occurrence and development of an epidemic.