 Transmission dynamics of Toxoplasma gondii along an urban–rural gradientLélu, M., M. Langlais, M.-L. Poulle and E. Gilot-Fromont Theoretical Population Biology, 2010, vol. 78, issue 2, 139-147 Abstract: Recently, several authors have proposed that the availability of intermediate hosts (IHs) for definitive hosts (DHs) may contribute to determining the dynamics and evolutionary ecology of parasites with facultative complex life cycles. The protozoa Toxoplasma gondii may be transmitted to DHs either via predation of infected IHs through a complex life cycle (CLC) or directly from a contaminated environment through a simple life cycle (SLC). This parasite is also present in contrasting host density environments. We tested the hypothesis that the relative contributions of the CLC and SLC along an urban–rural gradient depend on the IH supply. We built and analysed a deterministic model of the T. gondii transmission cycle. The SLC relative contribution is important only in urban-type environments, i.e., with low predation rate on IHs. In contrast, the parasite is predominantly transmitted through a CLC in suburban and rural environments. The association of the two cycles enables the parasite to spread in situations of low IH availability and low DH population size for which each cycle alone is insufficient. Keywords: Complex life cycle; Simple life cycle; Toxoplasmosis; R0; Trophic transmission (search for similar items in EconPapers) Downloads: (external link) Related works: Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:eee:thpobi:v:78:y:2010:i:2:p:139-147 DOI: 10.1016/j.tpb.2010.05.005 Access Statistics for this article Theoretical Population Biology is currently edited by Jeremy Van Cleve More articles in Theoretical Population Biology from Elsevier |
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