To fight disease, animals, like plants, can tolerate parasites

Animals, like plants, can build tolerance to **infections** at a **genetic level**, and these findings could provide a better understanding of the epidemiology and **evolution of infectious disease**, according to evolutionary biologists. Plant pathologists have long known that plants deal with **parasites** by either developing resistance to the bugs, or by becoming more tolerant to disease. So plants that are tolerant do not get sick as fast as plants that are not **tolerant**, even when the number of parasites is doubled. "Think of an aircraft carrier under enemy fire," said Andrew Read, professor of biology and entomology at Penn State, the Eberly College of Science Distinguished Senior Scholar and an associate of the University’s Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics. "Resistance is trying to repel the incoming shells before they hit." Tolerance, he added, is the number of shells the carrier can withstand before keeling over. Whole article on "Physorg":[ http://www.physorg.com/news113582833.html]

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