Efferocytosis spreads viable pathogens

This hypothesis asks if rapidly clearing dying cells in infected tissue helps live pathogens spread to host cells. A phagocyte, an immune cell that engulfs, may take up membrane fragments from a dying infected cell. Fragments carrying viable pathogens may infect the recipient phagocyte, then disseminate. A test would match pathogen burden, immune-cell destinations and survival of live neutrophils, white blood cells. It labels host membranes and pathogen viability, distinguishing uptake from an infection that takes hold. Rendering cargo noninfectious while preserving recognition and uptake should remove extra spread. That prediction would favor this hypothesis over premature neutrophil engulfment or competing tissue cues, and could identify when cell clearance is safe.