Biases in parasite richness estimates arising from coinfection dynamics

July Pilowsky, Amy Sweeny, Greg Albery, Barbara Han

Can coinfection dynamics bias population estimates of parasite richness?

  • The short answer: yes.

Are interactions among parasites, viruses, and bacteria common?

  • The short answer: we don’t know
  • Interactions can be inferred with experimental infections, parasite removal, and longitudinal studies of infection
  • These haven’t been done very often
  • Amy Sweeny will change this, we hope

Conceptual diagram of richness estimates becoming biased when parasites interact

Research Question

What are we missing when we estimate parasite or viral richness without accounting for coinfection dynamics?

Approach: Individual-based modeling

SI model with pairwise interactions and no demography

Approach: Parameter space explored

Approach: What a single simulation looks like

Does high parasite richness “smooth out” interaction?

Does the strength of interactions matter?

proportion of the population sampled

Interactions between strains are more important

Up Next

  • More simulations, this time with a lower baseline transmission rate
  • A search for any empirical data about C:F ratio and interaction strength in microbial communities