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NSF PR 00-86 - November 2, 2000
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Cheryl Dybas, NSF |
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Jennifer Cabe, NIH |
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Ecology of Infectious Diseases Grants Jointly Announced
by National Institutes of Health and National Science
Foundation
Initial awards have been announced to fund 12 research
projects under the new Ecology of Infectious Diseases
initiative. The joint NIH-NSF initiative supports
efforts to understand the underlying ecological and
biological mechanisms that govern relationships between
human-induced environmental changes and the emergence
and transmission of infectious diseases. The highly
interdisciplinary research projects will study how
large-scale environmental events - such as habitat
destruction, biological invasion, and pollution -
alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic,
and bacterial diseases in humans and other animals.
The initiative is a team effort to bridge gaps between
scientific disciplines in order to meet a critical
need. The grants are funded jointly by NSF and three
NIH Institutes and Centers - the Fogarty International
Center (FIC), the National Institute of Allergy and
Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the National Institute
of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS).
These four organizations have jointly committed more
than $23 million to fund the projects over a period
of 5 years. Other Federal agencies participating in
the program are NASA, the U.S. Department of Agriculture
(USDA), and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS).
"FIC initiated this collaborative effort to address
an important gap in the ability of the scientific
and public health communities to predict the emergence
and transmission of infectious diseases in relation
to our rapidly changing global environment," says
FIC Director Gerald T. Keusch on behalf of the NIH
partners. "This initiative will allow institutions
throughout the world to participate in studies that
can lead to the development of predictive models for
disease emergence, allowing implementation of strategies
to prevent and control disease before an outbreak
occurs."
Adds NSF Director Rita Colwell, "The current spread
of the West Nile virus, for example, brings home to
all of us the critical need to understand the ecological
dynamics of diseases and pathogens. This kind of knowledge
is at the heart of understanding our planet's biocomplexity,
the interrelatedness of all life to its environment.
The studies funded by this competition demonstrate
how basic science can have important societal impacts."
The following are successful applicants for the
new awards:
- David Anderson and colleagues at Colorado State
University will lead a collaborative effort with
the USGS and the Centers for Disease Control and
Prevention (CDC) to study the ecology of rabies
transmission in commensal bat colonies with the
aim of developing a predictive model to help understand
risk of bat borne diseases in relation to urban
sprawl.
- Philip Craig and colleagues at the University
of Salford (UK), together with investigators in
China, France, Ireland, Japan, and the United
States, will study the transmission of human alveolar
echinococcosis (a highly pathogenic disease resulting
from infection by a tapeworm) in farming communities
in China. The project aims to develop predictive
models of relative risk to humans of this and
other parasitic diseases in relation to animal
husbandry and land-use practices, including deforestation.
- Andre Dhondt and colleagues at Cornell University
will lead a project to study a pathogenic bacterium,
Mycoplasma gallisepticum, in house finches
in order to develop predictive models on the spread
of aerially transmitted bacterial diseases. Emphasis
will be placed on human contributing factors,
including population density, bird feeding, farming,
and urban sprawl (which modify the spread and
maintenance of disease). The results will aid
in understanding this pathogen and a variety of
other aerially transmitted diseases.
- Wayne Getz of the University of California, Berkeley
will collaborate with investigators from South
Africa to study the spread and impact of bovine
tuberculosis in the African buffalo in South Africa's
Kruger National Park. This project will examine
the influence of population distribution, population
structure, and population movement, as well as
a variety of environmental variables, including
fires, water availability, vegetation, and placement
of fencing.
- N. Thompson Hobbs and colleagues at Colorado
State University, in collaboration with investigators
at the USGS and elsewhere, will examine the effect
of changing land use on the spatial and temporal
dynamics of prion disease in wildlife. The project
aims to develop models of disease dynamics and
use the models to investigate the effects of habitat
compression and fragmentation resulting from sustained
changes in human land use.
- Joseph Kiesecker and colleagues at the Pennsylvania
State University will lead a study seeking to
understand the influence of physical and chemical
changes in wetlands on outbreaks of flatworm parasites
in amphibian hosts in the northeastern United
States. The goal of this study is to identify
key environmental changes resulting from urbanization
that influence outbreaks of parasitic diseases.
- Charles King of Case Western Reserve University,
will lead a collaboration of investigators from
the United States, Israel, and Kenya to research
the impact of human population growth and climate
variation on human infection rates by the blood
fluke Schistosoma haematobium in Kenya.
Infection with S. haematobium causes urinary
schistosomiasis, a major cause of human morbidity
and mortality throughout Africa and the Mideast.
The goal of this project is to define predictive
principles and methods for effective interruption
of parasite transmission from snails to human
hosts.
- Linda Lowenstine and colleagues at the University
of California, Davis will lead a team of investigators
from the Marine Mammal Laboratory, the National
Marine Fisheries Service, and others to study
the interaction of organochlorine pollutants in
the development of herpesvirus infections and
cancer in California sea lions. The study aims
to identify key internal and external environmental
factors in order to develop a predictive model
of infection and cancer incidence in this sentinel
species for marine and coastal systems.
- Stephen McGarvey of Brown University, together
with investigators in Holland, the Philippines,
and England, will study the ecology and transmission
of the blood fluke Schistosoma japonicum
associated with rice cultivation in the Philippines.
The objective of this project is to develop a
dynamic model of the influence of agricultural
expansion and intensification, including specific
management practices, on the risk of human infection
and disease.
- Eliska Rejmankova and colleagues at the University
of California, Davis will lead a team of researchers
from the United States and Belize to study the
effects of deforestation and phosphorus runoff
from agricultural fields on the populations of
mosquito vectors of malaria and the risk of human
infection.
- Thomas Unnasch and colleagues at the University
of Alabama at Birmingham will lead a collaboration
to study the ecology of mosquito-borne encephalitis
virus diseases, including Eastern equine encephalitis,
St. Louis encephalitis, and West Nile virus in
the southeastern United States. The goal of this
project is to elucidate the ecological factors
necessary to promote viral enzootics and to identify
the factors necessary to allow the viruses to
escape the avian zoonotic cycle and infect humans
and other mammals.
- Scott Weaver and colleagues at the University
of Texas Medical Branch will lead a collaborative
effort that includes the USDA, the Smithsonian
Institution, and the U.S. Naval Medical Research
Center Detachment in Peru to examine the effects
of environmental changes, such as deforestation,
habitat fragmentation, urbanization, and the introduction
of exotic mosquitoes, on the ecology of several
mosquito-borne viruses endemic to the Peruvian
Amazon and on the risk of infection in humans.
NSF is an independent federal agency which supports
fundamental research and education across all fields
of science and engineering. NSF-related materials
and information are available at http://www.nsf.gov.
FIC, NIAID, and NIEHS are components of the NIH. NIH
supports biomedical and behavioral research training
and is an agency of the U.S. Department of Health
and Human Services. FIC promotes and supports scientific
research and training internationally to reduce disparities
in global health. FIC-related materials and information
are available at http://www.nih.gov/fic.
NIAID supports basic and applied research to prevent,
diagnose, and treat infectious and immune mediated
illnesses, including HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted
diseases, tuberculosis, malaria, autoimmune disorders,
asthma, and allergies. NIAID-related materials and
information are available at http://www.niaid.nih.gov.
NIEHS seeks to reduce human diseases by discovering
their environment related causes, and by studying
the variable susceptibility of people to various environmental
factors. NIEHS-related materials and information are
available at http://www.niehs.nih.gov.
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