Abstract
Background: Parasites incur periodic mutations which must ultimately be eliminated to maintain their genetic integrity.
Methods: It is hypothesised that these mutations are eliminated not by the conventional mechanisms of competition between parasites in different hosts but primarily by competition between parasites within the same infection.
Results: This process is enhanced by the production of a large number of parasites within individual infections, and this may significantly contribute to parasitic virulence.
Conclusions: Several features of the most virulent human malaria parasite Plasmodium falciparum can usefully be re-interpreted in this light and lend support to this interpretation. More generally, it constitutes a novel explanation for the evolution of virulence in a wider range of microparasites.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Article number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 1-5 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| Journal | Malaria Journal |
| Volume | 3 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - 2 Mar 2004 |
