The adaptive evolution of virulence: a review of theoretical predictions and empirical tests

• Published in: Parasitology Vol. 143; no. 7; pp. 915 - 930
• Main Authors: CRESSLER, CLAYTON E., McLEOD, DAVID V., ROZINS, CARLY, VAN DEN HOOGEN, JOSÉE, DAY, TROY
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Cambridge, UK Cambridge University Press 01.06.2016; Cambridge University Press (CUP)
• Subjects: Animals; Biological Evolution; evolutionary adaptation; Host-Parasite Interactions; Humans; Models, Biological; Parasites; Parasites - pathogenicity; prediction; Special Issue Review; Virulence; Tradeoff hypothesis; infectious disease; evolutionary medicine

Why is it that some parasites cause high levels of host damage (i.e. virulence) whereas others are relatively benign? There are now numerous reviews of virulence evolution in the literature but it is nevertheless still difficult to find a comprehensive treatment of the theory and data on the subject...