Skip to main content
. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2016 Jan 31.
Published in final edited form as: Trends Microbiol. 2014 Oct 31;23(2):83–90. doi: 10.1016/j.tim.2014.10.004

Figure 2. Possible relationship between virulence and transmission in rabbit viruses.

Figure 2

The x-axis depicts approximate host mortality rates (a measure of virulence) for the three rabbit viruses (colored accordingly) ranging from 0% (benign) to 100% (always lethal), including the different virulence grades of MYXV. The likely relationship between mortality and hypothetical values for viral titer (bars) and transmissibility (bell-shaped distributions) is also shown. Transmission via the fecal-oral route does not require host mortality so that RCV-A1 can evolve to low virulence. In contrast, RHDV can also be transmitted via flies that feed on animal carcasses, such that host death increases transmission rate. In the case of MYXV predominant mosquito and flea transmission occurs via diseased (live) animals, leading to a trade-off between virulence and transmission. Importantly, despite the markedly difference virulence levels in the three viruses, each can be considered as maximizing transmissibility.