Several hypotheses serve as the canon in the evolution of virulence, theorizing its relationship with transmission traits. The Curse of the Pharaoh hypothesis—Named after a tale about a mythical curse that torments individuals who dig up tombs of Egyptian pharaohs [11]—Suggests that, if a parasite has high free-living survival, then it is far less dependent on its host for transmission and, consequently, will have no evolutionary incentive to decrease virulence [2,4,12]. The potential negative fitness consequences of killing hosts rapidly (being highly virulent) can be counteracted by persisting in the environment until the arrival of new susceptible hosts. Any presumptive selection on beneficence may be relaxed: parasites can detrimentally affect the health of hosts at no cost to transmission because most of their life cycle is spent outside of a host. Previous studies support a positive correlation between free-living survival and mortality per infection (a common proxy for virulence) [13].