The consequences of mixed-mode transmission for disease prevalence

Host-parasite relationships are defined by transmission. Transmission takes diverse forms, with horizontal transmission modes generally characterized as density- or frequency-dependent. However, many observed parasites display mixed-mode transmission using both density- and frequency-dependent routes. To investigate how mixed-mode transmission impacts epidemics, we assessed infection prevalence under single- and mixed-mode transmission when there was a linear trade-off between the probability of infection by the two modes. Our results show that the prevalence of a parasite with mixed-mode transmission can be greater than one with a single-mode only when density- and frequency-dependent routes are associated with different effects of the parasite on host fitness. This work shows that mixed transmission modes per se may not necessarily increase disease prevalence, and that substituting two transmission modes for a single one may result in higher prevalence under limited conditions.