Disease propagation in connected host populations with density-dependent dynamics: the case of the Feline Leukemia Virus

Spatial heterogeneity is a strong determinant of host-parasite relationships, however local-scale mechanisms are often not elucidated. Generally speaking, in many circumstances dispersal is expected to increase disease persistence. We consider the case when host populations show density-dependent dynamics and are connected through the dispersal of individuals. Taking the domestic cats (Felis catus)—Feline Leukemia Virus (FeLV) as a toy model of host-microparasite system, we predict the disease dynamics when two host populations with distinct or similar structures are connected together and to the surrounding environment by dispersal. Our model brings qualitatively different predictions from one-population models. First, as expected, biologically realistic rates of dispersal may allow FeLV to persist in sets of populations where the virus would have gone extinct otherwise, but a reverse outcome is also possible: eradication of FeLV from a small population by connexion to a larger population where it is not persistent. Second, overall prevalence as well as depression of host population size due to infection are both enhanced by dispersal, even at low dispersal rates when disease persistence is not achieved in the two populations. This unexpected prediction is probably due to the combination of dispersal with density-dependent population dynamics. Third, the dispersal of non-infectious cats has more influence on virus prevalence than the dispersal of infectious. Finally, prevalence and depression of host population size are both related to the rate of dispersion, to the health status of individuals dispersing and to the dynamics of host populations.