How does ageing influence the way our bodies handle infection? Writing in Nature, Sanchez et al.1 sought answers to this question by examining how mice of different ages respond to life-threatening bacterial infections. The findings demonstrate that the same genetic program that enables young mice to survive drives the risk of death later in life, providing further molecular evidence for an evolutionary theory2 that was first proposed in the 1950s. The research also illustrates the need to broaden treatment strategies to consider the age-dependent effects of organ dysfunction following an infection.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-04091-4
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Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.
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