The Epidemiological Signature of Pathogen Populations That Vary in the Relationship between Free-Living Parasite Survival and Virulence.

ABSTRACT: The relationship between parasite virulence and transmission is a pillar of evolutionary theory that has implications for public health. Part of this canon involves the idea that virulence and free-living survival (a key component of transmission) may have different relationships in different host-parasite systems. Most examinations of the evolution of virulence-transmission relationships-Theoretical or empirical in nature-Tend to focus on the evolution of virulence, with transmission being a secondary consideration. Even within transmission studies, the focus on free-living survival is a smaller subset, though recent studies have examined its importance in the ecology of infectious diseases. Few studies have examined the epidemic-scale consequences of variation in survival across differen

SUBMITTER: Gomez LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC7551987 | biostudies-literature | 2020 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature