“Population Biology of Infectious Diseases: Part I”, 1979-08-01 (; backlinks; similar):
If the host population is taken to be a dynamic variable (rather than constant, as conventionally assumed), a wider understanding of the population biology of infectious diseases emerges. In this first part of a two-part article, mathematical models are developed, shown to fit data from laboratory experiments, and used to explore the evolutionary relations among transmission parameters. In the second part of the article, to be published in next week’s issue, the models are extended to include indirectly transmitted infections, and the general implications for infectious diseases are considered.
…The effects of micro-parasitic infections on the dynamics of animal populations depend on the ecology of the interactions between host and parasite. These patterns of disease behavior involve 4 principal factors, namely: the host providing a habitat for the parasite; the degree to which the parasite induces host mortality (or diminishes the reproductive capability of the host); the extent to which the host acquires immunity; and the necessity of transmission from one host to the next. Overlaid on these factors are many biological complications, specific to individual host—parasite associations, whose sequential action is determined by lifecycle structure.
In the second part of this article, we show how a common set of factors are involved in the dynamics of all infectious diseases, whether they are caused by viral or helmintic agents, and whether they are transmitted directly or indirectly between hosts.