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. Author manuscript; available in PMC: 2015 Feb 19.
Published in final edited form as: Am Nat. 2013 Dec 16;183(2):E36–E49. doi: 10.1086/674357

Figure 3.

Figure 3

Synchronous infections transmit better at low gametocyte investment—without any qualitative change in dynamics—due to the sigmoidal shape of the relationship between gametocyte numbers and probability of transmission. Single-strain infections were simulated in the absence of merozoite interference (q = 0) and immune clearance (a = 0), with solid curves indicating synchronous infections and dashed lines referring to asynchronous dynamics. Abundance of uninfected and infected red blood cells (RBCs) in the asexual cycle are shown with gametocyte (transmission stage) numbers (A & B, logarithmic scale), with total transmission potential—the cumulative transmission probability—shown below (C & D). Simulations in panels A & C assume low gametocyte investment (c = 0.001), while panels B & D show dynamics with relatively high gametocyte investment (c = 0.05).