Applied Math Colloquium Talk - Dr. Geoff Wild

Title: Man flu: The science

Speaker:
Professor Geoff Wild
Department of Applied Mathematics
School of Mathematical and Statistical Sciences
The University of Western Ontario

Abstract:

Individuals are known to suffer the symptoms of infectious diseases in a sex-specific manner. Researchers have pointed to sex hormones as the proximate drivers of these sex-specific patterns, but exactly why such patterns might be expected to evolve remains unclear. I will present a model for the evolution of pathogen virulence when this trait can be expressed in manner that depends on the sex of the pathogen’s host. I will show how sex-specific differences in host life history (in addition to sex-specific immune function) can set the stage for the advantage of sex-specific, disease-related mortality. I will argue that the fabled “Man Flu” can be understood as the natural consequence of the selective process.