Pathogens require a minimum population size of potential hosts. If the host population is too small, in a short time the entire population has either been killed by the pathogen or has survived the initial infection and become immune. If this occurs, the pathogen dies out. What evolutionary changes in a pathogen might increase its ability to survive in a smaller population? For example, measles requires a host population of about 500,000 humans, while diphtheria can get by with only about 50,000 humans. Develop some hypotheses for why diphtheria can survive with just one-tenth the number of hosts. For example, how might these two diseases differ from each other in transmission rate, virulence, latency to infection, or mutation rate?
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