Antigenic diversity, transmission mechanisms, and the evolution of pathogens.

ABSTRACT: Pathogens have evolved diverse strategies to maximize their transmission fitness. Here we investigate these strategies for directly transmitted pathogens using mathematical models of disease pathogenesis and transmission, modeling fitness as a function of within- and between-host pathogen dynamics. The within-host model includes realistic constraints on pathogen replication via resource depletion and cross-immunity between pathogen strains. We find three distinct types of infection emerge as maxima in the fitness landscape, each characterized by particular within-host dynamics, host population contact network structure, and transmission mode. These three infection types are associated with distinct non-overlapping ranges of levels of antigenic diversity, and well-defined patterns of within

SUBMITTER: Lange A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2759524 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature