Data from: Behavioral phenotypes predict disease susceptibility and infectiousness

Behavioral phenotypes may provide a means for identifying individuals that disproportionally contribute to disease spread and epizootic outbreaks. For example, bolder phenotypes may experience greater exposure and susceptibility to pathogenic infection because of distinct interactions with conspecifics and their environment. We tested the value of behavioural phenotypes in larval amphibians for predicting ranavirus transmission in experimental trials. We found that behavioural phenotypes characterized by latency-to-food and swimming profiles were predictive of disease susceptibility and infectiousness- defined as the capacity of an infected host to transmit an infection by contacts. While viral shedding rates were positively associated with transmission, we also found an inverse relationship between contacts and infections. Together these results suggest intrinsic traits that influence behaviour and the quantity of pathogens shed during conspecific interactions may be an important contributor to ranavirus transmission. These results suggest that behavioural phenotypes provide a means to identify individuals more likely to spread disease and thus give insight into disease outbreaks that threaten wildlife and humans.

行为表型（behavioral phenotypes）或可为识别那些在疾病传播与动物流行病暴发中起到不成比例推动作用的个体提供可行途径。例如，大胆行为表型的个体因与同种个体（conspecifics）及其所处环境的交互模式更为独特，往往面临更高的病原暴露风险与感染易感性。本研究以两栖动物幼体为研究对象，在受控实验中验证了其行为表型用于预测蛙病毒（Ranavirus）传播的应用价值。研究发现，以觅食潜伏期与游泳行为特征为表征的行为表型，可有效预测个体的感染易感性与传染能力——其中传染能力被定义为受感染宿主通过接触途径实现感染传播的能力。尽管病毒排毒率与疾病传播呈正相关关系，但本研究同时发现，个体间的接触次数与感染事件间存在负相关关系。综合上述结果可知，影响个体行为模式以及同种个体交互过程中病原排毒量的内在性状，或是推动蛙病毒传播的重要因素。本研究结果表明，行为表型可用于甄别更易引发疾病传播的个体，从而为解析威胁野生生物与人类健康的疾病暴发机制提供新的视角。