Abstract
A general method of investigating parasite population genetics
is
presented and used to investigate the evolution of drug
resistance in Plasmodium. The most important biological factor
is
the nature of the control, presumably through host
immunity, of the malarial infection. Two models are examined: a ‘generalized
immunity’ (GI) model in which immunity
regulates the overall level of infection, and a ‘specific immunity’
(SI) model in which each clone within the infection is
regulated independently. These models are used to investigate 3 critical
factors
in the evolution of resistance: (i) the
frequency of resistant alleles in the population prior to drug use, (ii)
the
dynamics of resistance following drug application
and (iii) the magnitude of threshold frequencies below which resistance
will
not evolve. These analyses also identify the
implicit assumptions made in several previous models, reconcile their differing
conclusions and allow a more informed
debate about the practical application of drugs.
Publisher
Cambridge University Press (CUP)
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Animal Science and Zoology,Parasitology
Cited by
106 articles.
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