Arietta E. Fleming-Davies

Abstract Host responses to infection are often heterogeneous, with key consequences for pathogen transmission and evolution. Given the ubiquity of host re-exposure to the same pathogen, understanding how prior exposure alters inter-individual heterogeneity in disease responses is critical. Work in house finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) found that priming exposures to low or high doses of the bacterium Mycoplasma gallisepticum augmented host heterogeneity in susceptibility.

Abstract Pathogen reinfections occur widely, but the extent to which reinfected hosts contribute to ongoing transmission is often unknown despite its implications for host-pathogen dynamics. House finches (Haemorhous mexicanus) acquire partial protection from initial exposure to the bacterial pathogen Mycoplasma gallisepticum (MG), with hosts readily reinfected with homologous or heterologous strains on short timescales.