Superspreading and the evolution of virulence.

ABSTRACT: Superspreading, where a small proportion of a population can cause a high proportion of infection transmission, is well known to be important to the epidemiology of a wide range of pathogens, including SARS-CoV-2. However, despite its ubiquity in important human and animal pathogens, the impact of superspreading on the evolution of pathogen virulence is not well understood. Using theory and both deterministic and stochastic simulations we examine the evolution of pathogen virulence under a range of different distributions of infection transmission for the host. Importantly, for many pathogens, superpreader events may be associated with increased tolerance to infection or asymptomatic infection and when we account for this superspreading selects for higher virulence. In contrast, in animal

SUBMITTER: O'Neill X 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12510586 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature