ArticleInternational journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife2012
Direct and indirect costs of co-infection in the wild: Linking gastrointestinal parasite communities, host hematology, and immune function.
Article in International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife, 2012. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 21 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
21 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.
- Pooled it
- Spikes in the data: biological validation and applications of an assay for detecting faecal glucocorticoid metabolites in Western European hedgehogs (Conservation physiology · 2026Article
- Food Subsidy Effects on Host Foraging Behavior Shape Host-Macroparasite Infection Dynamics.Ecology and evolution · 2026Article
- Systemic inflammation impairs recovery from hookworm-associated anemia in a wild marine mammal host.Frontiers in immunology · 2025Article
- The prevalence and immune response to coinfection by avian haemosporidians in wild Eurasian blackbirdsParasitology · 2024Article
- Macro-parasites and micro-parasites co-exist in rodent communities but are associated with different community-level parameters.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2023Article
- Helminth-associated changes in host immune phenotype connect top-down and bottom-up interactions during co-infection.Functional ecology · 2023Article
- Mini-FLOTAC as an alternative, non-invasive diagnostic tool for Schistosoma mansoni and other trematode infections in wildlife reservoirs.Parasites & vectors · 2019Article
- Why did the buffalo cross the park? Resource shortages, but not infections, drive dispersal in female African buffalo (Ecology and evolution · 2019Article
- Age affects antibody levels and anthelmintic treatment efficacy in a wild rodent.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2019Article
- Maintenance ofInternational journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2018Article
- Parasite insight: assessing fitness costs, infection risks and foraging benefits relating to gastrointestinal nematodes in wild mammalian herbivores.Philosophical transactions of the Royal Society of London. Series B, Biological sciences · 2018Review
- Diversity of Mammomonogamus (Nematoda: Syngamidae) in large African herbivores.Parasitology research · 2018Article
- Anthropogenic food provisioning and immune phenotype: Association among supplemental food, body condition, and immunological parameters in urban environments.Ecology and evolution · 2018Article
- The Certainty of Uncertainty: Potential Sources of Bias and Imprecision in Disease Ecology Studies.Frontiers in veterinary science · 2018Article
- Temporal and demographic blood parasite dynamics in two free-ranging neotropical primates.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2017Article
- Mandrills use olfaction to socially avoid parasitized conspecifics.Science advances · 2017Article
- Ecoimmunology for psychoneuroimmunologists: Considering context in neuroendocrine-immune-behavior interactions.Brain, behavior, and immunity · 2015Review
- Co-Infection and Wild Animal Health: Effects of Trypanosomatids and Gastrointestinal Parasites on Coatis of the Brazilian Pantanal.PloS one · 2015Article
- Nematode-coccidia parasite co-infections in African buffalo: Epidemiology and associations with host condition and pregnancy.International journal for parasitology. Parasites and wildlife · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Most animals are concurrently infected with multiple parasites, and interactions among these parasites may influence both disease dynamics and host fitness. However, the sublethal costs of parasite infections are difficult to measure and the effects of concomitant infections with multiple parasite species on individual physiology and fitness are poorly described for wild hosts. To understand the direct and indirect physiological costs of co-infection, we investigated the relationships among gastrointestinal parasite richness, species identity, and abundance and host hematological parameters, body condition, and investment in lymphocyte defenses. Using aggregate-scale parasite data from African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), we found few direct or indirect associations between infection and hematology in male hosts, and no significant associations were observed in female hosts or with respect to body condition in either sex. These results suggest that only strong physiological effects are detectable with aggregate-scale parasite data, and that hematological variables may be more sensitive to changes in condition than standard body fat condition indices. Analyses accounting for parasite species identity in female buffalo revealed that different parasites show distinct relationships with host hematology, body condition, and immune investment. However, four of six species-specific associations were obscured when parasites were considered in combination. Overall, fitness-related physiological mediators such as hematological indices may provide assessments of direct and indirect effects of parasite infection, particularly when parasite species identity and community composition are considered.
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