The idea that parasites with long-lived infective stages may evolve higher virulence has received considerable attention. This idea is called 'the curse of the pharaoh' because of the hypothesis that the death of Lord Carnavon was caused by very long-lived propagules of a highly virulent infectious disease. Here, we examined the evolution of diseases that transmit via free-living stages in a spatial context. We show that, if virulence evolves independently of transmission, long-lived infective stages can select for higher virulence. There is always the evolution of a finite transmission rate, which becomes higher when the infective stages are shorter lived. When a trade-off occurs between transmission and virulence, we show that there is no evidence for the curse of the pharaoh. Indeed, higher transmission and therefore virulence may be selected for by shorter rather than long-lived infective stages. (C) 2004 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
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Yale Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
Brown Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Providence, RI 02912 USAYale Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
Gomez, Lourdes M.
Meszaros, Victor A.
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Brown Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Providence, RI 02912 USAYale Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
Meszaros, Victor A.
Turner, Wendy C.
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SUNY Albany, Dept Biol Sci, Albany, NY 12222 USA
Univ Wisconsin, Dept Forest & Wildlife Ecol, Wisconsin Cooperat Wildlife Res Unit, US Geol Survey, Madison, WI 53706 USAYale Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
Turner, Wendy C.
Ogbunugafor, C. Brandon
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Yale Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, New Haven, CT 06520 USA
Brown Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, Providence, RI 02912 USAYale Univ, Dept Ecol & Evolutionary Biol, New Haven, CT 06520 USA