Slower-than-exponential viral decay is prevalent and can reshape virus-microbe dynamics

Biphasic extracellular viral decay fits better or is statistically indistinguishable from exponential decay in about half of 17 curated microbial virus datasets.

• Why it matters: Rapid extracellular decay is often assumed to explain high viral abundances, but that assumption may misrepresent how virions persist and shape virus–microbe interactions.
• What they did: The study reanalyzed 17 curated datasets for decay-model fit, then incorporated aggregation-protected biphasic decay into a virus–host model.
• The result: Aggregation-based biphasic decay can reproduce joint patterns of high virion abundance and low infection prevalence without requiring uniformly inefficient infection.

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