title: Five challenges in evolution and infectious diseases.
abstract: Evolution is a key aspect of the biology of many pathogens, driving processes ranging from immune escape to changes in virulence. Because evolution is inherently subject to feedbacks, and because pathogen evolution plays out at scales ranging from within-host to between-host and beyond, evolutionary questions provide special challenges to the modelling community. In this article, we provide an overview of five challenges in modelling the evolution of pathogens and their hosts, and point to areas for development, focussing in particular on the issue of linking theory and data.
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA; Division of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA. Electronic address: cmetcalf@princeton.edu.
authors.forename: C J E
authors.initials: CJ
authors.lastname: Metcalf
authors.affiliation: Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Princeton University, Princeton, NJ, USA.
authors.forename: R B
authors.initials: RB
authors.lastname: Birger
authors.affiliation: Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases, London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, London, UK.
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Funk
authors.affiliation: Division of Infectious Diseases and Hospital Epidemiology, University Hospital Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Kouyos
authors.affiliation: Division of Epidemiology and Population Studies, Fogarty International Center, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD, USA; Department of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, UCLA, Los Angeles, USA.
authors.forename: J O
authors.initials: JO
authors.lastname: Lloyd-Smith
authors.affiliation: School of Biological Sciences, Royal Holloway University of London, Egham, UK.
authors.forename: V A A
authors.initials: VA
authors.lastname: Jansen
mesh_terms: D044822:Biodiversity; D005075:Biological Evolution; D060085:Coinfection / Q000235:genetics; D003141:Communicable Diseases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D054884:Host-Pathogen Interactions / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D012641:Selection, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D014774:Virulence / Q000235:genetics / Q000276:immunology
keywords: Coinfection; Diversity; Fitness; Genetic systems; R0