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Updated: Mar 1, 2026

Sexual Transmission of American Trypanosomes from Males and Females to Naive Mates
Published on: January 27, 2019
SEXUALLY TRANSMITTED DISEASE AND PARASITE-MEDIATED SEXUAL SELECTION
1Department of Zoology, University of the Witwatersrand, Private Bag 3, Wits 2050, Johannesburg, South Africa.
Abstract:
Few studies have investigated the consequences of parasite-mediated sexual selection on the parasites involved. In some cases parasite-mediated sexual selection could lead to increased virulence, but I develop a simple model that shows that, if a parasite is sexually transmitted (i.e., is a sexually transmitted disease, or STD) and if mating success of the host is adversely affected by the parasite, then less virulent STDs will be selected for because transmission of the STD depends on the mating success of the host. This selection for reduced virulence could have important consequences for the role of STDs in sexual selection.
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