Datasets and code for "Infected host competence overshadows heterogeneity in susceptibility in shaping experimental epizootics"

These data were collected as part of an experiment to estimate heterogeneity in susceptibility of house finches with variable prior exposure histories to an endemic bacterial pathogen, Mycoplasma gallisepticum. House finches were housed in one of six large aviary units where they could freely interact. Each flock (i.e. aviary unit) consisted entirely of birds that either had previous low level pathogen-exposure or were naive. Three pathogen-naive "index" birds were inoculated with a high dose of pathogen and introduced into each flock to initiate epidemics. Data were collected over two months, where pathogen loads and pathology were measured longitudinally for each bird.