Evolution of virulence in emerging epidemics.
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ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Berngruber TW
PROVIDER: S-EPMC3597519 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Mar
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Publications
Evolution of virulence in emerging epidemics.
Berngruber Thomas W TW Froissart Rémy R Choisy Marc M Gandon Sylvain S
PLoS pathogens 20130314 3
Theory predicts that selection for pathogen virulence and horizontal transmission is highest at the onset of an epidemic but decreases thereafter, as the epidemic depletes the pool of susceptible hosts. We tested this prediction by tracking the competition between the latent bacteriophage λ and its virulent mutant λcI857 throughout experimental epidemics taking place in continuous cultures of Escherichia coli. As expected, the virulent λcI857 is strongly favored in the early stage of the epidemi ...[more]
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