Last Updated: 27/12/2025
Exploring the Transmission Biology of Vector-Borne Diseases
Objectives
The long-term goal of this project is to improve understanding of three disease systems, malaria, bluetongue (BT), and epizootic hemorrhagic disease (EHD), with an eye toward developing novel strategies that interrupt transmission cycles to prevent disease.
The most effective strategies for controlling and preventing vector-borne diseases (VBDs) exploit knowledge of their basic biology. VBDs are transmitted by a small subset of the thousands of species of blood-feeding arthropods that includes ticks, mosquitoes, biting flies, fleas, and lice among others. Transmission cycles of these diseases are the outcome of intimate interactions between pathogenic microorganisms, biting arthropods, and their vertebrate hosts, which often include humans and domestic animals. These interactions are strongly influenced by environmental conditions and the unique biology of the vector, pathogen, and host. Consequently, disease systems become unique and highly specialized over time. Malaria is caused by parasites in the genus Plasmodium, which are characterized by complex life cycles and are transmitted among humans exclusively by Anopheles mosquitoes (family Culicidae). In contrast, BT and EHD are diseases of cattle and white-tailed deer caused by closely related viruses in the genus Orbivirus (family Reoviridae) and transmitted solely by biting midges in the genus Culicoides (family Ceratapogonidae). Although these disease systems are distinct, a common thread is that the causitive agents of all three diseases are vectored by insects from closely related families. Therefore, despite similarities in physiology and innate immunity, these insects have forged exclusive relationships with different viruses and parasites. The studies included in this project will shed light on the basis of such specialization and uncover unique biology that may be exploited to control and prevent disease.
Oct 2015 — Jan 2017
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