Much work has considered the evolution of pathogens, but little is known about how they respond to changes in host behaviour. We build a model of sublethal disease effects where hosts are able to choose to engage in prophylactic measures that reduce the likelihood of disease transmission. This choice is mediated by utility costs and benefits associated with prophylaxis, and the fraction of hosts engaged in prophylaxis is also affected by population dynamics. When prophylactic host behaviour occurs, we find that the level of pathogen host exploitation is reduced, by the action of selection, relative to the level that would otherwise be predicted in the absence of prophylaxis. Our work emphasizes the significance of the transmission-recovery trade-off faced by the pathogen and the ability of the pathogen to influence host prophylactic behaviour.

许多工作都考虑了病原体的进化，但人们对它们如何响应宿主行为的变化知之甚少。我们建立了亚致死疾病影响模型，宿主可以选择采取预防措施来降低疾病传播的可能性。这种选择是由与预防相关的效用成本和效益调节的，并且参与预防的宿主比例也受到群体动态的影响。当发生预防性宿主行为时，我们发现，通过选择作用，相对于没有预防的情况下预测的水平，病原体宿主利用的水平降低了。我们的工作强调了病原体面临的传播-恢复权衡的重要性以及病原体影响宿主预防行为的能力。