# name
Variation in relapse frequency and the transmission potential of
                Plasmodium vivax malaria

# metadata.dc.description.abstract[].value
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 potential is optimized at
                intermediate relapse frequencies of two to three months:
                slower-relapsing strains increase the opportunity for onward
                transmission to mosquitoes, but also increase the risk of being
                outcompeted by faster-relapsing strains. Seasonality is an
                important driver of relapse frequency for temperate strains,
                with the time to first relapse predicted to be six to nine
                months, coinciding with the duration between seasonal
                transmission peaks. We predict that there is a threshold degree
                of seasonality, below which fast-relapsing tropical strains are
                selected for, and above which slow-relapsing temperate strains
                dominate, providing an explanation for the observed global
                distribution of relapse phenotypes.

# metadata.dc.relation.isformatof[].value
Reproducció del document publicat a:
                http://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rspb.2016.0048

# metadata.dc.source[].value
Articles publicats en revistes (ISGlobal)

# metadata.dc.title[].value
Variation in relapse frequency and the transmission potential of
                Plasmodium vivax malaria