How does animals’ social behavior affect the development of epidemics? 

When humans or animals are infected by a virus or another parasite, their behavior influences whether and how an epidemic develops. But how does our behavior influence the emergence and evolution of epidemics? To answer this question, Wallenberg Academy Fellow Jessica Stephenson will study the dynamics between guppy fish and their parasites. 

For a parasite to transfer from one host animal to another, these host animals must have some form of contact. Accordingly, social creatures such as humans are more often affected by epidemics than solitary animals but, during an epidemic, social hosts may interact less. This will slow the epidemic’s progress and lower the risk of the parasite becoming more infectious and more harmful. 

A host animal’s social behavior therefore influences the development of an epidemic, but our knowledge in this field is still very rudimentary. To improve our understanding of how deadly parasites evolve, Dr Jessica Stephenson from the University of Pittsburgh, USA, is studying guppy fish. She is investigating how parasites spread and evolve in guppy populations with different social behaviors and, in turn, how the guppies respond to the parasites. Hopefully, the knowledge generated by the project will help us better manage future infectious diseases, in animals including humans. 

As a Wallenberg Academy Fellow, Jessica Stephenson will work at Stockholm University.