Journal article
Variation in relapse frequency and the transmission potential of Plasmodium vivax malaria
Michael T White, George Shirreff, Stephan Karl, Azra C Ghani, Ivo Mueller
PROCEEDINGS OF THE ROYAL SOCIETY B-BIOLOGICAL SCIENCES | ROYAL SOC | Published : 2016
Abstract
There is substantial variation in the relapse frequency of Plasmodium vivax malaria, with fast-relapsing strains in tropical areas, and slow-relapsing strains in temperate areas with seasonal transmission. We hypothesize that much of the phenotypic diversity in P. vivax relapses arises from selection of relapse frequency to optimize transmission potential in a given environment, in a process similar to the virulence trade-off hypothesis. We develop mathematical models of P. vivax transmission and calculate the basic reproduction number R0 to investigate how transmission potential varies with relapse frequency and seasonality. In tropical zones with year-round transmission, transmission poten..
View full abstractGrants
Awarded by Population Health Scientist fellowship from the MRC
Awarded by NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship
Awarded by NHMRC Early Career Fellowship
Awarded by Medical Research Council
Funding Acknowledgements
M.T.W. is funded by a Population Health Scientist fellowship from the MRC (MR/L012170/1). A.C.G. acknowledges support from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and MRC Centre funding. I.M. is supported by an NHMRC Senior Research Fellowship (#1043345). S.K. was supported by an NHMRC Early Career Fellowship (#1052760). I.M. and S.K. acknowledge support from the Victorian State Government Operational Infrastructure Support and Australian Government NHMRC IRIISS.