Survival of the Sickest

by

Sharon Moalem

Paul Ewald Character Analysis

Ewald was a pioneer of evolutionary biology who focused on the transmission of diseases. He developed a theory that by making diseases (cholera, for example) more reliant on human transmission, they would evolve to be less virulent (i.e., less harmful to the hosts) because they would need humans to be mobile in order to spread.

Paul Ewald Quotes in Survival of the Sickest

The Survival of the Sickest quotes below are all either spoken by Paul Ewald or refer to Paul Ewald. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Evolution and Illness Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

Ewald believes that we can use this understanding to influence the evolution of parasites away from virulence. The basic theory is this—shut down the modes of transmission that don’t require human participation and suddenly all the evolutionary pressure is directed at allowing the human host to get up and get out.

Related Characters: Sharon Moalem (speaker), Paul Ewald
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis:
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Paul Ewald Quotes in Survival of the Sickest

The Survival of the Sickest quotes below are all either spoken by Paul Ewald or refer to Paul Ewald. For each quote, you can also see the other characters and themes related to it (each theme is indicated by its own dot and icon, like this one:
Evolution and Illness Theme Icon
).
Chapter 5 Quotes

Ewald believes that we can use this understanding to influence the evolution of parasites away from virulence. The basic theory is this—shut down the modes of transmission that don’t require human participation and suddenly all the evolutionary pressure is directed at allowing the human host to get up and get out.

Related Characters: Sharon Moalem (speaker), Paul Ewald
Page Number: 120
Explanation and Analysis: