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Importance of Autoinfection to the Epidemiology of Polycyclic Foliar Disease

Autoinfection (infection resulting from inoculum produced on the same host unit) can result in strongly clustered disease at the local scale. In contrast, much epidemiological theory incorporates the simplification of spatially random or uniform infection. Earlier studies suggested only low to moderate levels of autoinfection, especially when the host unit is small. However, several studies published within the last 5 years suggest that autoinfection rates may be substantially higher than previously indicated. I discuss the potential importance of accounting for high autoinfection rates in example epidemiological processes that occur at different spatial scales: microbial interactions on the phylloplane, temporal disease progression in plant populations, and spatiotemporal disease spread at the landscape scale. Accounting for high autoinfection rates can have important qualitative and quantitative consequences for epidemiological processes, and further studies of autoinfection will contribute significantly to our understanding of epidemics.