Pathogen Virulence
Why Do You Get Sick?
Why do some pathogens make you sicker than others? The answer lies in the tradeoff that exists between virulence and transmissibility. Effective transmission between hosts comes at the expense of host health. If the impact on the host is too great, then the host dies; if the impact is too small, then the pathogen can't find new hosts to infect.
Clearly, a pathogen must strike a balance between "too sick" and "not sick enough." Exactly how that balance is struck is likely to be pathogen-specific and could be responsible for the wide range of disease symptoms confronted by medical science.
My research tries to understand how biological features of host-pathogen interactions influence the tradeoffs faced by pathogens, and ultimately, the evolution of pathogen virulence.
Related Articles
Shillcock G, Ubeda F, Wild G 2023 Vertical transmission does not always lead to benign pathogen-host associations. Evolution Letters free download (see the 12-min summary on YouTube)
Mitchell E, Graham AL, Ubeda F, Wild G 2022 On maternity and the stronger immune response in women. Nature Communications, 13: 4858 free download
