Zoonotic pathogens: how anthropogenic habitat disturbance impacts the prevalence and diversity.

Project Details

Layman's description

Emerging infectious diseases continue to exert a growing pressure on society with unpredictable impact on global health and economy, as shown by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Research indicates that up to 70% of those emerging viral diseases are the result of a zoonotic spill-over event. Anthropogenic factors such as loss of wildlife habitat and deforestation provide increased opportunities for spill-over events. In this PhD, I will investigate the impact of landscape changes and increasing anthropogenic pressure on two groups of pathogens; arboviruses and Monkeypox virus (MPXV).
Arboviruses are transmitted to vertebrate hosts by bloodsucking arthropods, posing a major threat to global public health. They circulate in a natural sylvatic cycle that is - especially in Africa - largely unknown. However, increasing disturbance of the landscape is changing the diversity of mosquitoes, arboviruses and their hosts. Mosquito communities in the Congo Basin are poorly understood, making it very difficult to predict the impact and distribution of harmful species, such as the exotic Aedes albopictus. In this project, I will investigate the shift in mosquito-virus diversity along an anthropogenic gradient, as well as the change in preferences of these bloodsucking insects for particular host species along this gradient. Freshly collected mosquitoes of the Congo Basin will be screened for the presence of arboviruses. In addition I will use DNA barcoding to identify the insects as well as the vertebrate species from which they draw blood. The results from this study will unravel the interactions between mosquitoes, arboviruses and hosts with increasing anthropogenic disturbance.
Furthermore, poxviruses have always posed a significant threat to human health. Most notable is monkeypox virus (MPXV), a zoonotic virus that causes clinical disease resembling smallpox. The virus circulates in wildlife in the rainforest of Central and West Africa, with frequent spill-over to local populations. Despite the increase in incidence and spatial spread, substantial uncertainty exists over the animal reservoir and potential intermediate species responsible for spill-over to humans. Although African squirrels were first identified as reservoirs, recent studies suggest that a wider variety of mammals, including rodents, bats and primates can become infected. The aim of this research is to acquire key insights on monkeypox transmission from animals to humans. To identify the spillover host to humans, I will collect samples of small mammals (rodents, shrews, bats), bushmeat and livestock in and around houses of rural villages where human cases and their household contacts are detected. These samples will be tested for antibodies against MPXV as well as for the presence of the virus itself. The results of this study will add to the very limited knowledge on the circulation of MPXV in wildlife and will help unravel spill-over to humans.
This improved understanding of arboviruses and MPXV will contribute to the much-needed prevention of new virus outbreaks in humans.
StatusActive
Effective start/end date29/05/24 → …