Journal
EPIDEMIOLOGY AND INFECTION
Volume 137, Issue 9, Pages 1295-1301Publisher
CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS
DOI: 10.1017/S0950268808001866
Keywords
Cowpox; disease ecology; Microtus; population dynamics; wildlife disease
Funding
- Wellcome Trust [075202/Z/04/Z]
- NERC Dorothy Hodgkin Award
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Recent studies have provided evidence that endemic pathogens may affect dynamics in animals. However, such studies have not typically considered that infected individuals might have a preceding underlying poor condition. We examined whether individuals in poor condition are more likely to become infected by an endemic pathogen, using as a system the dynamics of cowpox virus in field voles. With data from monthly sampled vole populations, a nested case-control study evaluated whether Susceptible individuals with poorer condition had higher probabilities of contracting cowpox. The influence of condition was found to be considerable, especially for males. At times when a susceptible male with good body condition had a relatively low probability of becoming infected., a susceptible male with poor body condition was twice as likely to contract cowpox; if this male was also anaemic, the chances were almost quadrupled. We discuss the care needed when interpreting the findings of wildlife disease studies.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available