Scott M E, Anderson R M
Parasitology. 1984 Aug;89 ( Pt 1):159-94. doi: 10.1017/s0031182000001207.
Experiments were undertaken to investigate the factors which influence the transmission dynamics of Gyrodactylus bullatarudis within populations of laboratory guppies. The parasites possess a number of biological attributes which are almost unique amongst helminth parasites of vertebrates. These include the ability to reproduce viviparously and directly on the surface of the host, the ability to survive death of the host (for a short period of time) and the ability to transfer between hosts (despite the absence of a specialized transmission stage in the parasite's life-cycle). Long-term laboratory experiments demonstrated the inability of the parasite to persist within populations of the host in the absence of the continual introduction of naive susceptible fish. With regular addition of susceptible fish, the parasite population exhibited recurrent epidemic behaviour. The magnitudes of the epidemics and the time interval between them, were dependent on the rate at which fish were added to the populations. The parasite was over-dispersed in its distribution within the experimental fish populations and was a significant cause of host mortality (in a manner related to parasite burden). The experimental results suggest that acquired resistance to infection is an important factor determining epidemic behaviour.
开展了实验以研究影响实验室孔雀鱼种群内布氏三代虫传播动态的因素。这些寄生虫具有许多生物学特性，在脊椎动物的蠕虫寄生虫中几乎是独一无二的。这些特性包括胎生并直接在宿主体表繁殖的能力、在宿主死亡后（短时间内）存活的能力以及在宿主间转移的能力（尽管寄生虫生命周期中没有专门的传播阶段）。长期的实验室实验表明，在没有持续引入未感染的易感鱼类的情况下，寄生虫无法在宿主种群中持续存在。随着易感鱼类的定期添加，寄生虫种群呈现出反复的流行行为。流行病的规模及其间隔时间取决于向种群中添加鱼类的速度。寄生虫在实验鱼种群中的分布呈过度分散状态，并且是宿主死亡的一个重要原因（与寄生虫负荷有关）。实验结果表明，获得性抗感染能力是决定流行行为的一个重要因素。
