ArticlePLoS pathogens2015
Beyond Mortality: Sterility As a Neglected Component of Parasite Virulence.
Article in PLoS pathogens, 2015. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 9 papers.
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
9 citing papers in PubMed, 56 citations in OpenAlex.
- Landscape structure as a driver of eco-evolution in host-parasite systems.Evolution letters · 2025Article
- Death and diminishment: parasitoid flies (Diptera: Conopidae) reduce foraging efficiency before killing their bumblebee host.Oecologia · 2025Article
- Idiosyncratic effects of bacterial infection on female fecundity inCurrent research in insect science · 2024Article
- Exploring theCurrent zoology · 2021Article
- Host-Induced Genome Instability Rapidly Generates Phenotypic Variation across Candida albicans Strains and Ploidy States.mSphere · 2020Article
- A Novel Virulence Phenotype Rapidly AssessesmSphere · 2019Article
- Epithelial stratification shapes infection dynamics.PLoS computational biology · 2019Article
- Mutualistic viruses and the heteronomy of life.Studies in history and philosophy of biological and biomedical sciences · 2016Article
- Volume and antimicrobial activity of secretions of the uropygial gland are correlated with malaria infection in house sparrows.Parasites & vectors · 2016Article
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.
Funding
No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.
Abstract
Virulence is generally defined as the reduction in host fitness following infection by a parasite (see Box 1 for glossary) [1]. In general, parasite exploitation of host resources may reduce host survival (mortality virulence), decrease host fecundity (sterility virulence), or even have sub-lethal effects that disturb the way individuals interact within a community (morbidity) [2,3]. In fact, the virulence of many parasites involves a combination of these various effects (Box 2). In practice, however, virulence is most often defined as disease-induced mortality [1, 4-6]. This is especially true in the theoretical literature, where the evolution of sterility virulence, morbidity, and mixed strategies of host exploitation have received relatively little attention. While the focus on mortality effects has allowed for easy comparison between models and, thus, rapid advancement of the field, we ask whether these theoretical simplifications have led us to inadvertently minimize the evolutionary importance of host sterilization and secondary virulence effects. As explicit theoretical work on morbidity is currently lacking (but see [7]), our aim in this Opinion piece is to discuss what is understood about sterility virulence evolution, its adaptive potential, and the implications for parasites that utilize a combination of host survival and reproductive resources.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.