Twenty Years of Research on Cytokine-Induced Sickness Behavior
Cytokine-induced sickness behavior was recognized within a few years of the cloning and expression of interferon-α, IL-1 and IL-2, which occurred around the time that the first issue of Brain, Behavior, and Immunity was published in 1987. Phase I clinical trials established that injection of recombinant cytokines into cancer patients led to a variety of […]
Impact of acute clinical mastitis on cow behaviour
Acute mastitis is one of the most common diseases of high-producing dairy cows. However, there is still lack of knowledge on which precise behaviours change first at the beginning of acute mastitis, and whether behavioural changes might serve as a tool for early detection of clinical mastitis. In addition, mastitis can cause motivational conflict in […]
Physiological Mechanisms Causing Sickness Behaviour and Suffering in Diseased Animals
Disease is one of the most important causes of animal suffering. When diseases are treated the aim is to achieve rapid and permanent recovery and this helps to reduce the duration of suffering. It does not, however, alleviate suffering during the fulminant and recovery phases. Greater attention needs to be given to alleviating suffering and […]
Sickness behaviour and its relevance to animal welfare assessment at the group level
The inflammatory response evokes changes in behaviour including increased thermoregulatory activities and sleep, reduced social exploration and appetite, and altered food preferences. This sickness response also includes feelings of lethargy, depression, and pain, collectively referred to as ‘malaise’. Recent experiments involving laboratory rodents reveal information about proximate mechanisms of sickness behaviour, but scant information exists […]
Sickness behaviours in ducks include anorexia but not lethargy
The characteristics of mammalian sickness behaviour are often conferred on the avian phyla despite there being little scientific evidence that birds change their behaviour when the innate immune system is activated during disease or infection. We used bio-logging techniques to measure activity and feed intake in birds exposed to different pathogen associated molecular patterns (PAMPs). […]