Age of first infection across a range of parasite taxa in a wild mammalian population

Newborn mammals have an immature immune system that cannot sufficiently protect them against infectious diseases. However, variation in the effectiveness of maternal immunity against different parasites may couple with temporal trends in parasite exposure to influence disparities in timing of infection risk. Determining the relationship between age and infection risk is critical in identifying the portion of a host population that contributes to parasite dynamics, as well as the parasites that regulate host recruitment. While age-prevalence curves have been used as a rough estimation of timing of infection, there are no data directly identifying timing of first infection among parasites in wildlife. Here, we took advantage of a longitudinal dataset, tracking infection status in a herd of African buffalo, with a number of individuals born during the study or immediately prior to the start of the study, to ask: (1) How does age of first infection differ amongst parasite taxa? and (2) Are ...