A model of within-host interactions between host resources, macroparasite infection and immune response (Q6724246)

This project was designed to mathematically investigate the of different host parasite-mitigation strategies on host condition. The R code herein comprises: An ODE model of within-host interactions between a macroparasite (e.g. helminth) infection, host resource levels and host immune response, and the consequent effects on host condition. In brief, resources are ingested and utilised by the host, leading to inceased condition. The host is infected by a parasite, which matures and establishes within the host; both age stages cause harm to the host, decreasing host condition. The presence of the parasite stimulates an immune response, which can either target larval or adult parasites (a resistance strategy), or ameliorate the harm they cause (a tolerance strategy). The host can also reduce resource intake in order to also reduce ingestion of parasite infective stages (an avoidance strategy). Resistance responses have an associated immunopathology, in that the immune response also harms the host. Code to plot model trajectories over time. Code to plot multiple trajectories as a heat map, in which the x-axis is time and the y-axis is a parameter representing the host investment in its parasite-mitigation strategy. Code to calculate the optimum host investment for each strategy, over various sets of parameter values, as determined by maximising mean host condition over a given timeframe, and to plot the output. The same are also provided for an ODE model in which the total immune response is allocated between the two resistance responses and tolerance (a combined strategy). The optimisation code optimises both the total investment in immune repsonse, and how much is allocated to the three different individual strategies. The model and results are described in detail in the associated manuscript. We also provide here the simulated datasets in which the optimum host investments were calculated over a range of different parameter values, as these take several hours to run on a standard desktop computer..