Transmission shifts underlie variability in population responses to Yersinia pestis infection.

ABSTRACT: Host populations for the plague bacterium, Yersinia pestis, are highly variable in their response to plague ranging from near deterministic extinction (i.e., epizootic dynamics) to a low probability of extinction despite persistent infection (i.e., enzootic dynamics). Much of the work to understand this variability has focused on specific host characteristics, such as population size and resistance, and their role in determining plague dynamics. Here, however, we advance the idea that the relative importance of alternative transmission routes may vary causing shifts from epizootic to enzootic dynamics. We present a model that incorporates host and flea ecology with multiple transmission hypotheses to study how transmission shifts determine population responses to plague. Our results sugges

SUBMITTER: Buhnerkempe MG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3143141 | biostudies-literature | 2011

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature