Wildlife infection risk
By Linda on Dec 10, 2010 in Infections | comments(0)
Excerpt:
Most hosts, including humans, are simultaneously or sequentially
infected with several parasites. A key question is whether
patterns of coinfection arise because infection by one parasite
species affects susceptibility to others or because of inherent
differences between hosts. We used time-series data from
individual hosts in natural populations to analyze patterns of
infection risk for a microparasite community, detecting large
positive and negative effects of other infections. Patterns
remain once variations in host susceptibility and exposure are
accounted for. Indeed, effects are typically of greater
magnitude, and explain more variation in infection risk, than the
effects associated with host and environmental factors more
commonly considered in disease studies. We highlight the danger
of mistaken inference when considering parasite species in
isolation rather than parasite communities.
