Vertically Transmitted Diseases

Abstract

Publisher Summary This chapter presents a mathematical analysis on vertically transmitted diseases. Infectious disease agents are generally passed from one organism to another by some form of close contact. Infections can also be carried from one animal to another by a vector or intermediate host such as a mosquito or tick. In addition, infection is often also inherited. In rinderpest, a disease of cattle and other animals, there is placental transmission to the embryo. In some insects, a virus may be passed through the eggs of an infected parent to its offspring; this is called transovarial or transovum transmission. A few plant diseases such as bean and lettuce mosaic are transmitted through the seed. Certain microorganisms found in the cytoplasm of single cells are inherited by the daughter cells. All these modes of transmission are known as vertical transmission. By this is meant the direct transfer of infection from a parent organism to its progeny. The chapter presents the example of Keystone virus. It also highlights an age-dependent model for the transmission of infection, similar to the McKendrick or von Foerster model of population growth.