title: Can antibodies against flies alter malaria transmission in birds by changing vector behavior?
abstract: Transmission of insect-borne diseases is shaped by the interactions among parasites, vectors, and hosts. Any factor that alters movement of infected vectors from infected to uninfeced hosts will in turn alter pathogen spread. In this paper, we study one such pathogen-vector-host system, avian malaria in pigeons transmitted by fly ectoparasites, where both two-way and three-way interactions play a key role in shaping disease spread. Bird immune defenses against flies can decrease malaria prevalence by reducing fly residence time on infected birds or increase disease prevalence by enhancing fly movement and thus infection transmission. We develop a mathematical model that illustrates how these changes in vector behavior influence pathogen transmission and show that malaria prevalence is maximized at an intermediate level of defense avoidance by the flies. Understanding how host immune defenses indirectly alter disease transmission by influencing vector behavior has implications for reducing the transmission of human malaria and other vectored pathogens.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, UT, USA; Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, UT, USA; Department of Biology, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA. Electronic address: sug25@psu.edu.
authors.forename: Suma
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Ghosh
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, UT, USA; Department of Biology, Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics, Pennsylvania State University, PA, USA.
authors.forename: Jessica L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Waite
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, UT, USA.
authors.forename: Dale H
authors.initials: DH
authors.lastname: Clayton
authors.affiliation: Department of Biology, University of Utah, UT, USA; Department of Mathematics, University of Utah, UT, USA.
authors.forename: Frederick R
authors.initials: FR
authors.lastname: Adler
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan / Q000276:immunology*; D001717:Birds / Q000276:immunology / Q000469:parasitology*; D004199:Disease Vectors; D006801:Humans; D008288:Malaria / Q000635:transmission*
chemical_list: D000913:Antibodies, Protozoan
keywords: Anti-fly antibodies; Avian malaria; Higher order interaction; Pairwise interaction; Vector movement