Data from: Disentangling the role of parasite infectivity and environmental density in infection development and parasite proliferation

Understanding the environmental drivers of host-parasite interactions is a
major concern for human health and conservation, particularly in the
context of emerging infectious diseases. The likelihood of contracting an
infection can be related to both the rate of contact between host and
parasite, as well as innate features of hosts (susceptibility/resistance)
and parasites (infectivity, virulence, within-host proliferation rate).
This study uses a host-parasite system with a matching allele model for
host susceptibility and parasite infectivity to disentangle contact rate
from parasite infectivity while accounting for the effects of host
susceptibility. Using three exposure doses from several parasite isolates
to hosts with known susceptibility, we find significant differences in
parasite infectivity (in terms of number of successful infections) and
proliferation rate inside the host among parasite isolates, after
controlling for exposure rate and host genotype. Exposure dose did not
impact the number of infections but had a modest effect on infection
intensity, while host known susceptibility accounted for nearly half of
the variance in infectivity and a third of the variance in proliferation.
No significant relationship between infection success and parasite
proliferation rate was detected, indicating an independent variability
among isolates for both variables.