Reciprocal positive effects on parasitemia between coinfecting haemosporidian parasites in house sparrows.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Hosts are often simultaneously infected with several parasite species. These co-infections can lead to within-host interactions of parasites, including mutualism and competition, which may affect both virulence and transmission. Birds are frequently co-infected with different haemosporidian parasites, but very little is known about if and how these parasites interact in natural host populations and what consequences there are for the infected hosts. We therefore set out to study Plasmodium and Haemoproteus parasites in house sparrows Passer domesticus with naturally acquired infections using a protocol where the parasitemia (infection intensity) is quantified by qPCR separately for the two parasites. We analysed infection status (presence/absence of the parasite) and par

SUBMITTER: Garcia-Longoria L 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9164529 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature