NSF : National Science Foundation issues call for Zika virus proposals .- Fundación Nacional de Ciencia emite convocatoria de propuestas de virus Zika

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., El dengue, la fiebre amarilla, encefalitis japonesa, el virus del Nilo Occidental - y ahora Zika. Es nuestra interacción con el medio ambiente de alguna manera responsable del aumento en la incidencia de estas enfermedades?
A través de una carta Estimado colega (DCL), la Fundación Nacional de Ciencia (NSF) de la División de Biología Ambiental Ecología y Evolución del Programa de Enfermedades Infecciosas (EEID) está aceptando propuestas de investigación sobre Zika que se ocupan de la dinámica de transmisión del virus ecológicos.
"Zika es una amenaza seria y único para la salud pública", dice James Olds, NSF director adjunto de Ciencias Biológicas. "También es el último ejemplo de un surgimiento continuo de enfermedades infecciosas para las que necesitamos una mejor comprensión de la ecología y la evolución."

More information......

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=137621&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

Funding to address ecological transmission dynamics of the virus

Aedes aegypti mosquito carried the Zika virus from Africa to South and Central America. Credit and Larger Version

February 10, 2016

Dengue, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis, West Nile virus -- and now Zika. Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for the increase in incidence of these diseases?

Through a Dear Colleague Letter (DCL), the National Science Foundation (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology's Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Program is accepting research proposals on Zika that address the ecological transmission dynamics of the virus.

"Zika is a serious and unique threat to public health," says James Olds, NSF assistant director for Biological Sciences. "It is also the latest example of an ongoing emergence of infectious diseases for which we need a better understanding of their ecology and evolution."

 

Zika outbreak spreading

 

Discovered in Uganda in 1947, Zika has been documented since the 1950s along an equatorial belt from Africa to Asia.

In 2014, the virus spread eastward to French Polynesia, and in 2015 to Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, where the outbreak continues.

Zika is transmitted to humans through the bite of an infected Aedes aegypti mosquito. Because these mosquitoes are found throughout the world, it’s likely that outbreaks will spread to new countries, scientists say.

The illness Zika causes is similar to a mild form of dengue fever; it can't yet be prevented by drugs or vaccines.

The most common symptoms of Zika are fever, rash, joint pain, and conjunctivitis ("pink eye"). The illness usually lasts from several days to a week.

However, Zika virus can be spread from a pregnant woman to her unborn baby, and is suspected of causing birth defects. It may also be responsible for neurologic conditions in infected adults, including cases of Guillain-Barre syndrome, muscle weakness as a result of damage to the nervous system.

 

Predictive models and principles of transmission dynamics

 

NSF's EEID Program funds the development and testing of predictive models and discovery of the principles governing the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases such as Zika.

Zika project questions may include, but are not limited to:

• Which non-human species are hosts of Zika virus? In what frequency and spatial distribution does the virus occur?
• What is the rate at which Zika virus is transmitted between these vectors/carriers and humans?
• What is the rate at which Zika virus is spreading on a regional-to-continental scale, and can this spread be modeled and predicted?
• Can mathematical models of Zika virus transmission dynamics and spatial spread be developed to incorporate the effects of vector control methods?

 

How to submit an NSF EEID Zika proposal

 

NSF proposals may be submitted through one of two routes: as part of the annual call for EEID proposals or as a RAPID proposal (Grant Proposal Guide, Chapter II.D.1).

Before submission of a RAPID proposal, interested researchers should send a one-page summary of the project to zika@nsf.gov. The summary should include a statement of how the results of this research would be used to affect management of, or policies concerning, the spread of Zika virus within the next 12 months.

Projects with a more extended timeline should be submitted to the next EEID deadline.

Proposals that deal with disease etiology, pathophysiology, transmission from mother to fetus, transmission through sexual contact, development of diagnostics, or development of vaccines are not appropriate for submission to the NSF EEID program.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases has also published a notice of interest for research on Zika virus. Proposals on these topics, as well as the others addressed in that notice, should be directed to that agency.

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF, (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF Special Report: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases:

 http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/ecoinf/
NSF News: To slow the spread of infectious diseases, NSF, NIH, USDA support new research:

 https://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136044
NSF EEID Discovery Article Series:

http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=137557

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2016, its budget is $7.5 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives more than 48,000 competitive proposals for funding and makes about 12,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $626 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

 Get News Updates by Email 

Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page:

http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News:

 http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media:

 http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics:

http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches:

 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

Transmission electron micrograph (TEM) of the Zika virus.
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Map showing regions of the world where the Zika virus is currently active, as of Feb. 3, 2016.
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Zika: It arrived in Central and South America via Africa and Asia, then French Polynesia.
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Use of insect repellant is advisable in several regions, scientists say.
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Mosquito traps are common in locales such as Mexico City.
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The National Science Foundation (NSF)

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

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NSF : To slow the spread of infectious diseases, NSF, NIH, USDA support new research .- Para frenar la propagación de enfermedades infecciosas, NSF, NIH, USDA apoyar nuevas investigaciones

Hola mis amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido información de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias de Los Estados Unidos (NSF), sobre la unión que harán las principales instituciones norteamericanas para unir esfuerzos y luchar contra la propagación de enfermedades infecciones que se transmiten entre los humanos y los animales en el medio ambiente.

 

More information...

http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=136044&WT.mc_id=USNSF_51&WT.mc_ev=click

Scientists will study how diseases are transmitted among humans, other animals and the environment.

Los científicos estudiarán cómo se transmiten las enfermedades entre los humanos, otros animales y el medio ambiente.

EEID scientists will study the effects of temperature on vector-borne disease transmission. Credit and Larger Version

August 26, 2015

Emerging pandemic disease outbreaks such as Ebola increasingly threaten global public health and world economies, scientists say. We can expect five such new diseases to emerge each year--and spread. The tropical disease dengue fever, for example, has made its way to Florida and Texas, seemingly to stay.

Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for the increase in incidence of these diseases? A joint program of the National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) is seeking answers.

The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program supports efforts to understand the underlying ecological and biological mechanisms behind human-induced environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.

 

A complex process

 

The EEID program is also co-funded by the U.K.'s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC).

This year, the program has awarded eight new grants totaling $18 million.

Disease transmission is a complex process that involves disease organisms, disease vectors, disease hosts and the predators that consume those hosts. It links relatively pristine areas with human habitations and human-dominated areas.

Projects supported through the EEID program allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events--such as habitat destruction, invasions of non-native species and pollution--alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and other animals.

Researchers supported through the EEID program are advancing basic theory related to infectious diseases, and applying that knowledge to improve our understanding of how pathogens spread through populations at a time of increasing global change.

 

EEID research benefits

 

The benefits of research on the ecology of infectious diseases include development of theories of how diseases are transmitted; improved understanding of unintended health effects of development projects; increased capacity to forecast disease outbreaks; and knowledge of how infectious diseases emerge and reemerge.

"As demonstrated by the Ebola crisis, infectious diseases are an ongoing threat," says Sam Scheiner of NSF's Directorate for Biological Sciences and EEID program officer at NSF. "The fundamental research from these projects will help prepare us for the next outbreak, wherever it might come from."

Adds Christine Jessup of NIH's Fogarty International Center, "Infectious diseases are an ongoing global health challenge, often with devastating consequences. Environmental change, population mobility, and complex socio-ecological systems underlie many infectious disease threats. Our ability to prevent and control emerging and re-emerging diseases hinges on enhanced understanding of these diseases in their ecological and evolutionary contexts."

 

New awards to address current and future threats

 

This year's EEID awardees will conduct research on such topics as: group living as a possible explanation for infectious disease vulnerability in social species; vector behavior in transmission ecology; effects of agricultural expansion and intensification on infections; long-distance dispersal and disease outbreaks; and effects of temperature on vector-borne disease transmission.

"As we learn more about the ecology of pathogens that cause infectious diseases, we see clear links among public health, animal health, plant health, and the environment, with agriculture playing a significant role," says Sonny Ramaswamy, USDA's National Institute of Food and Agriculture director. "Through our partnership with the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases program, we are able to support agriculturally-relevant research on topics of global concern, and help ensure the safety and security of our food supply."

Adds Melanie Welham, BBSRC's science director, "Global uncertainties can present new challenges, and scientific research helps us to prepare for our future. The health of our livestock, plants and crops is dependent on improved knowledge of infectious diseases. This new funding will help us respond more rapidly and effectively to emerging threats, and to safeguard health and food security."

 

2015 NSF-NIH-USDA-BBSRC Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Awards

Kathleen Alexander, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University:

Can group living and the influence of Allee Effects explain infectious disease vulnerability in social species? Emergence of M. mungi in the cooperative breeding banded mongoose

Jason Blackburn, University of Florida:

Spatio-temporally explicit estimation of R0 for pathogens with environmentally-mediated transmission

Sonia Hernandez, University of Georgia:

 Consequences of Anthropogenic Resources for the Cross-Scale Dynamics of an Enteric Pathogen in an Avian Host

Leah Johnson, University of South Florida:

US-UK Collab: RCN: Vector Behavior in Transmission Ecology (VectorBiTE)

Cristina Lanzas, North Carolina State University-Raleigh:

 Exposure heterogeneity and environmental transmission dynamics of Escherichia coli

Erin Mordecai, Stanford University:

Effects of temperature on vector-borne disease transmission: integrating theory with empirical data

Christopher Mundt, Oregon State University:

Long-Distance Dispersal and Disease Outbreaks: Effects of Initial Prevalence, Basic Reproduction Number, and Control Tactics

Jason Rohr, University of South Florida:

Effects of Agricultural Expansion and Intensification on Infections

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF, (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF Special Report: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases: http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/ecoinf/
NSF Discovery Article Series: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases: http://nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=134947
NSF News (2014 EEID Awards): Racing ahead of disease outbreaks: $12 million in new research grants: http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=132570
NSF News (2013 EEID Awards): Outbreak: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease grants support research on disease transmission: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129280
NSF News (2012 EEID Awards): Controlling the Spread of Diseases Among Humans, Other Animals and the Environment: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=125496

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, its budget is $7.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 48,000 competitive proposals for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $626 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

 Get News Updates by Email 
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page:
http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News:
 http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics:
http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches:
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/


The "VectorBiTE" project studies the ecology of small, disease-carrying organisms, like this flea.
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Through a new EEID grant, pathogens in which birds are hosts are under investigation.
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One EEID award focuses on long-distance dispersal of plant diseases, like this wheat stripe rust.
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Infectious disease vulnerability in social species is an EEID project topic.
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EEID scientists will estimate environmentally-mediated disease transmission among animals.
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The National Science Foundation (NSF)

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - Earth Day: Disease spread among species is predictable .- Día de la Tierra: la propagación de enfermedades entre las especies es predecible....

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., hemos recibido información de la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias de Los Estados unidos, con ocasión sobre la celebración del Día de la Tierra, que nos aseguran que la propagación de enfermedades  entre las especies ahora es predecible.

NSF, nos dice : "En el Día de la Tierra, un estudio de la dinámica de la enfermedad en un prado de California ha revelado los principios fundamentales que subyacen a la propagación de agentes patógenos o microbios causantes de enfermedades, entre las especies.
Los resultados, anunciados hoy en la revista Nature, tienen implicaciones para el mantenimiento de la biodiversidad y para hacer frente a los problemas prácticos relacionados con enfermedades de las plantas....."

NSF, agrega: " Investigadores de la Universidad de California, en Santa Cruz, estudiaron el fenómeno de "spillover patógeno" en especies de pastizales en el campus de la Universidad de California en Santa Cruz......

Ellos encontraron que la cantidad de enfermedades presentes en cada especie podía predecirse por la abundancia de sus parientes cercanos en el pastizal. Cuando había muchos individuos de la misma o similar especies que viven cerca juntos, los patógenos se propagan más rápidamente.
Aunque parezca increíble, que a su vez promueve la biodiversidad mediante la creación de aberturas para las especies menos comunes que no son atacadas por estos mismos agentes patógenos...."

 

Study in California grassland expands understanding of biodiversity and management of emerging diseases

Scientists conduct a plant survey in a grassland on the University of California Santa Cruz campus. Credit and Larger Version

April 22, 2015

On Earth Day, a study of disease dynamics in a California grassland has revealed fundamental principles underlying the spread of pathogens, or disease-causing microbes, among species.

The results, announced today in the journal Nature, have implications for the maintenance of biodiversity and for addressing practical problems related to plant disease.

Researchers at the University of California, Santa Cruz, studied the phenomenon of "pathogen spillover" in grassland species on the UC Santa Cruz campus.

They found that the amount of disease present on each species could be predicted by the abundance of its close relatives in the grassland. When there were many individuals of the same or similar species living close together, pathogens spread more quickly.

Perhaps unexpectedly, that in turn promotes biodiversity by creating openings for less common species that are not attacked by these same pathogens.

 

Link between community structure and individual disease vulnerability

 

The findings reveal a tight link between the structure of a plant community and the vulnerability of individual species to disease.

"These scientists demonstrate that the relatedness of species in communities is an important predictor of disease prevalence," said Alan Tessier, acting director of the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Environmental Biology, which funded the research.

The researchers were able to predict which plant species introduced into the grassland would be most strongly affected by naturally-occurring diseases.

Ingrid Parker, an ecologist and evolutionary biologist at UC Santa Cruz and first author of the paper, said the study adds an important new dimension to a longstanding concept in ecology known as the "rare species advantage."

 

Diseases take greater toll on common species

 

"The rare species advantage is thought to be a major driver of biodiversity in natural ecosystems," Parker said. "Most pathogens are not host specialists--they can easily move from one species to another. Whether pathogens 'spill over' depends on how closely related other species nearby are.

"Our study shows that it's the structure of the whole community around a species that affects its vulnerability to disease."

 

Large-scale experiment with 44 plant species

 

In a large-scale experiment, the researchers introduced 44 plant species from outside California. (The plants were removed before they reproduced.)

The biologists found that species with few close relatives in the grassland escaped disease, while those closely related to many resident species always showed high levels of disease.

The researchers were able to make surprisingly accurate predictions of disease in introduced species based on their phylogenetic, or evolutionary, distance from local species.

"It was kind of shocking how well we were able to predict disease at a local scale," Parker said.

 

Modeling "PhyloSusceptibility"

 

To incorporate the phylogenetic distance between species into their predictions of disease dynamics, the researchers used a "PhyloSusceptibility model" developed by scientist Gregory Gilbert at UC Santa Cruz and two other paper co-authors, Roger Magarey and Karl Suiter of North Carolina State University, who work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service.

The model is based on USDA's global database of fungal pathogens and host plants, and can be used to predict the probability of two species sharing a pathogen.

"If a plant pathogen from Brazil suddenly shows up in southern California, you want to know what plants in California are most likely to be attacked," Gilbert said.

By showing that the PhyloSusceptibility model makes accurate predictions, the results suggest a range of potential applications.

The PhyloSusceptibility model could help avoid disease problems affecting proposed horticultural imports or reforestation projects.

It could also be used in agriculture to design intercropping or rotation systems to decrease crop disease.

 

Vulnerability of local species to "pathogen spillover"

 

Imported plants can bring new pathogens and pests into an area. The PhyloSusceptibility model could be used to assess the vulnerability of local species to pathogen spillover from such plant introductions, the scientists say.

While the PhyloSusceptibility model used in this study was based on data for fungal pathogens, Gilbert said the team has also created versions based on data for eight other groups of pests and pathogens, including insects, nematodes, bacteria and viruses.

In addition to Parker, Gilbert, Magarey and Suiter, the co-authors of the study include UC Santa Cruz researchers Megan Saunders, Megan Bontrager, Andrew Weitz and Rebecca Hendricks.

USDA also funded the work.

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF, (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov
Tim Stephens, UCSC, (831) 459-4352, stephens@ucsc.edu

Related WebsitesNSF Grant: Rare-species advantage: consequences of phylogenetic and numerical rarity of hosts for disease pressure and pathogen communities:
http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0842059&HistoricalAwards=false

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2015, its budget is $7.3 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 48,000 competitive proposals for funding, and makes about 11,000 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $626 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

 Get News Updates by Email 
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page:
http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media:
 http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics:
 http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches:
 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

An explosion of rare California poppies in the Great Meadow on the UCSC campus.
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Wild radishes are surrounded by abundant diseased grasses.
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Non-resident experimental plants are placed in a meadow to test for disease susceptibility.
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Disease symptoms on common grass in the UCSC Great Meadow.
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Researchers glue leaves of wild plants to blue paper for disease symptom assessment.
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The National Science Foundation (NSF)
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
Inscríbete en el Foro del blog y participa : A Vuelo De Un Quinde - El Foro!

nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - Ebola, Dengue fever, Lyme disease: The growing economic cost of infectious diseases.- Enfermedad de Ebola, la fiebre del dengue, de Lyme: El creciente costo económico de las enfermedades infecciosas

Hola amigos: A VUELO DE UN QUINDE EL BLOG., la Fundación Nacional de Ciencias de Los Estados Unidos de América nos informa, que cada año aparecen cinco (5) nuevas enfermedades de la misma mortandad como el Ébola, e incide que hay que establecer nuevas estrategias para recibirlas y combatirlas..

NSF. nos dice: "...Surgimiento de los brotes de enfermedades pandémicas como el Ébola amenazan cada vez más las economías globales de salud y públicos mundiales, tal como lo dicen los científicos. Podemos esperar cinco nuevos tales enfermedades cada año, en el futuro............Y esperan que se propaguen. La fiebre del dengue enfermedad tropical, por ejemplo, ha hecho su camino a Florida y Texas, al parecer para quedarse....

NSF . añade : ".....Pero la respuesta mundial a las enfermedades infecciosas a menudo es demasiado tarde para evitar efectos importantes sobre la salud y el crecimiento económico, los investigadores creen.....Según la Organización Mundial de la Salud (OMS), el número de personas infectadas con el Ébola ha superado 17.000, con más de 6.000 muertes. El Banco Mundial estima ahora que el costo financiero de dos años de Ébola puede llegar a $ 32.6 mil millones y obligar a algunas economías de África Occidental a gastar ingentes cantidades del escaso dinero; que ya sufren en una recesión profunda............"

Five new such diseases expected each year; strategies to reduce climate change adaptable to infectious diseases

Stopping Ebola in its tracks calls for rapid control measures; long-term, is there a better way? Credit and Larger Version

December 16, 2014

The following is part 13 in a series on the NSF-NIH-USDA Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease (EEID) Program. See parts: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, 10, 11, and 12.

Emerging pandemic disease outbreaks such as Ebola increasingly threaten global public health and world economies, scientists say. We can expect five new such diseases each year, into the future.

And expect them to spread. The tropical disease dengue fever, for example, has made its way to Florida and Texas, seemingly to stay.

But the global response to infectious diseases is often too late to prevent major effects on health and economic growth, researchers believe.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), the number of people infected with Ebola has surpassed 17,000, with more than 6,000 deaths. The World Bank now estimates that the two-year financial cost of Ebola may reach $32.6 billion and force some already suffering West African economies into a deep recession.

 

Growing economic cost of global disease outbreaks

 

Scientists at EcoHealth Alliance in New York and other organizations studied the economic cost of such global disease outbreaks.

Economists, disease ecologists and others collaborated on an in-depth economic analysis of strategies to address pandemic threats in a proactive way--rather than a reactive response to a crisis. The results are published in this week's issue of the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS).

"Our research shows that new approaches to reducing emerging pandemic threats at the source would be more cost-effective than trying to mobilize a global response after a disease has emerged," says Peter Daszak, senior author of the paper and president of EcoHealth Alliance.

The researchers used economic modeling to analyze two strategies for a pandemic response: Current business-as-usual approaches that rely on global surveillance to identify new diseases in people, and new "mitigation" strategies to reduce the underlying drivers of emerging diseases and lower the risk of their emergence.

"Our economic modeling demonstrates that the new approach to dealing with disease emergence is the right strategy in the long-term," says Jamie Pike, an economist at EcoHealth Alliance and first author of the paper.

The results indicate that the strategy for pandemics needs to be coordinated on a global scale to be effective in reducing risk. And that mitigation strategies will be far more cost-effective in the long-term.

The results follow those reported in a September, 2014, paper in the journal EcoHealth, in which Daszak, Charles Perrings of Arizona State University, A. Marm Kilpatrick of the University of California at Santa Cruz, and colleagues show that economic epidemiology has the potential to improve predictions of the course of infectious diseases, and to support new approaches to management of such diseases.

 

Environmental change causing increase in number of new diseases

 

Ebola. West Nile virus. Lyme disease. All are infectious diseases spreading in animals, and in humans. Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for the increase in incidence of these diseases?

With 60 percent of all human diseases and 75 percent of all emerging infectious diseases involving animal-to-human transmission, the underlying factors that contribute to disease outbreaks are mostly related to environmental changes to global ecosystems, the scientists found. Deforestation and illegal wildlife trade are two culprits.

Large-scale environmental events alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and animals.

"Virtually all the world's terrestrial and aquatic communities have undergone dramatic changes in biodiversity due primarily to habitat transformations such as deforestation and agricultural intensification, invasions of exotic species, chemical contamination, and climate change events," says Sam Scheiner, National Science Foundation (NSF) program director for the joint NSF-NIH-USDA Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) Program, which funded the research.

 

Ebola epidemic highlights need to address infectious disease threats

 

"The current Ebola epidemic highlights the need to anticipate possible health threats from these changes," says Scheiner. "This study shows that the long-term economic benefits outweigh the short-term costs, not to mention the human benefits of preventing the next pandemic."

Rapid changes to the environment are resulting in a continuous year-by-year increase in the number of new diseases emerging, the researchers found.

"With continued pressure causing diseases to rise, we need to analyze the ecological and economic foundations of the risk, and identify economically effective strategies to reduce it," says David Finnoff, an economist at the University of Wyoming and co-author of the PNAS paper.

The paper highlights WHO International Health Regulations goals, and points out that the global capacity to achieve such targets needs to be addressed to deal with the continuous rise in the rate of new diseases.

 

Five new diseases each year into the future

 

"We show that we can expect more than five new emerging diseases each year into the future," says Daszak.

"With this continuous rise in the pandemic threat, and our increasing global connectivity, we are at a critical moment in history to act."

--	Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734   cdybas@nsf.gov

Related Programs Ecology of infectious diseases
Related WebsitesNSF Special Report: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases: http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/ecoinf/
NSF EEID Discovery Article Series:
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=133281&org=NSF
NSF Grant: Risks of Animal and Plant Infectious Diseases through Trade (RAPID Trade): http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1414374&HistoricalAwards=false
NSF News: Racing ahead of disease outbreaks: $12 million in new research grants: http://nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=132570
NSF News: Outbreak: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease grants support research on disease transmission:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129280
NSF News: Controlling the Spread of Diseases Among Humans, Other Animals and the Environment:
 http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=125496

Scientist Peter Daszak studies infectious disease transmission at a chicken farm in China.
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Our interaction with the environment is likely responsible for increasing infectious diseases.
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Mosquitoes transmit the virus that causes the often-deadly disease dengue fever.
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Dengue fever is on-the-march across the Western Hemisphere, appearing in new regions.
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Where ticks are, Lyme disease may follow. Lyme is now rampant in many northeastern U.S. states.
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The National Science Foundation (NSF)
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
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nsf.gov - National Science Foundation - Racing ahead of disease outbreaks: $12 million in new research grants

NSF, NIH, partners support studies of how diseases spread among humans, other animals and the environment

Interactions between the environment and humans may foster the spread of infectious diseases. Credit and Larger Version

September 10, 2014

Ebola, MERS (Middle East Respiratory Syndrome), malaria, antibiotic-resistant infections: Is our interaction with the environment somehow responsible for their increased incidence?

The joint National Science Foundation (NSF), National Institutes of Health (NIH) and U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) program is providing answers.

The EEID program supports efforts to understand the ecological and biological mechanisms behind human-induced environmental changes and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.

Now NSF, NIH and USDA--in collaboration with the U.K.'s Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council (BBSRC)--have awarded more than $12 million in new EEID grants.

"Recent outbreaks such as the Ebola and MERS viruses, as well as growing threats such as Lyme disease, demonstrate the need for fundamental understanding of pathogen movement and evolution," says Sam Scheiner, NSF program director for EEID.

"This year's EEID awards will contribute to the broader understanding of these threats the program has provided. Because of this increasing body of knowledge, we're able to respond to these new threats more efficiently and effectively."

Now in its 14th year as an interagency partnership, the program has supported 124 research projects.

Projects funded through the EEID program allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events--such as habitat destruction, invasions of non-native species and pollution--alter the risks of emergence of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and other animals.

"The EEID program allows us to access predictive power to more effectively respond to infectious disease," says Daniel Janes, an EEID program director at NIH. "EEID's lines of research seek to identify common dynamics of pathogens that can lead to better prevention of future threats to human health."

Researchers supported by the EEID program are advancing basic theory related to infectious diseases and improving understanding of how pathogens spread through populations.

The benefits of research on the ecology and evolution of infectious diseases include development of theories about how diseases are transmitted, improved understanding of unintended health effects of building projects, increased capacity to forecast disease outbreaks, and knowledge of how infectious diseases emerge and re-emerge.

"Agriculture is inextricably linked to the health of the people of the United States and the world--a fact that is made clear as we fight animal and plant diseases," says Sonny Ramaswamy, USDA National Institute of Food and Agriculture director.

"Research on the evolution and spread of infectious diseases will have a profound effect on our understanding of how to develop solutions that ensure safe and secure food and health for the American people."

This year's EEID awardees will conduct research on such topics as: the effects of landscape structure on disease dynamics; the risk of animal and plant infectious diseases through trade; ants as a model system to study processes influencing the transmission of infectious diseases; mycobacterial transmission in agricultural systems; and the effect of host vaccinations and genetic disease resistance on pathogen transmission, ecology and epidemiology.

"In addition to human health, the health of our livestock and crops is dependent on fundamental research on infectious diseases," says Jackie Hunter, BBSRC chief executive.

"As new threats emerge, this knowledge will enable us to respond more rapidly and effectively to safeguard health and food security."

EEID 2014 Grants:

David Hughes, Pennsylvania State University-University Park:

Ants as a model system to study processes that influence the transmission dynamics of infectious diseases

Charles Perrings, Arizona State University:

US-UK Collab: Risks of Animal and Plant Infectious Diseases through Trade (RAPID Trade)

Sue VandeWoude, Colorado State University

 

Impacts of Landscape Structure, Host Demography, and Management Interventions on Disease Dynamics

Yrjo Grohn, Cornell University:

US-UK Collab: Mycobacterial Transmission Dynamics in Agricultural Systems: Integrating Phylogenetics, Epidemiology, Ecology, and Economics

Andrew Wargo, College of William & Mary:

The Impacts of Host Vaccination and Genetic Disease Resistance on Pathogen Transmission, Ecology, and Epidemiology

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF, (703) 292-7734, cdybas@nsf.gov

Related WebsitesNSF Special Report: The Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases: http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/ecoinf/index.jsp
NSF EEID Discovery Article Series: Ten Things to Know about Lyme Disease, and other EEID articles:
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=131439
EEID Awards 2013: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Disease grants support research on disease transmission:
 http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=129280
EEID Awards 2012: Controlling the Spread of Diseases Among Humans, Other Animals and the Environment:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=125496
EEID Awards 2011: Investigating the Spread of Infectious Diseases With NSF, NIH, U.K. Funding: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=121607
NSF News: Infectious diseases and climate change intersect with no simple answers: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=128617
NSF News: Social Bats Pay a Price: Fungal Disease, White-Nose Syndrome ... Extinction?: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=124679
NSF News: History is Key Factor in Plant Disease Virulence: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=123869
NSF News: Precautions for Tick-Borne Disease Extend "Beyond Lyme": http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=124286
NSF News: Biodiversity Loss: Detrimental to Your Health: http://www.nsf.gov/news/news_summ.jsp?cntn_id=118114


The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2014, its budget is $7.2 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.
 Get News Updates by Email 
Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page:
http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News:
http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media:
 http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics:
 http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches:
 http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

EEID awardees will study landscape structure and diseases in species like Florida panthers.
Credit and Larger Version

The transmission of mycobacteria in agricultural systems is the focus of an EEID grant.
Credit and Larger Version

The risk of animal and plant infectious diseases spreading through trade is growing.
Credit and Larger Version

EEID scientists will conduct research on disease resistance in fish such as trout and salmon.
Credit and Larger Version

Ants are a model system for studying processes that influence transmission of infectious diseases.
Credit and Larger Version
The National Science Foundation (NSF)
Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui
ayabaca@gmail.com
ayabaca@hotmail.com
ayabaca@yahoo.com
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nsf.gov - News - Evolution in the Blink of an Eye

Diseases may rapidly evolve to become more--or less--virulent, according to songbird study.
 
 
 A healthy male house finch visits a seed feeder; the finches are common at bird feeders.
Credit: Carl Peters/Cornell University
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (1.2 MB)
 


Male house finches are rose-red and brown; females are gray-brown and streaked.
Credit: Elena Petrcich/Cornell University
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (2.5 MB)

House finches that contract eye disease (male shown here) develop swollen, weepy eyes.
Credit: Andy Davis/Cornell University
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (112 KB)

 
Two male house finches on snow-dusted perches in Montana; these birds are healthy.
Credit: Jeanette Tasey/Cornell University
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (1.2 MB)

A healthy male house finch perches on a bramble in Pennsylvania.
Credit: Kelly Colgan Azar
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (581 KB)
 
House finch photo showing the beak, which is evolved for eating seeds.
Credit: Wikimedia Commons
Download the high-resolution JPG version of the image. (493 KB)

A disease in songbirds has rapidly evolved to become more harmful to its host at least twice in two decades, scientists report.

The research offers a model to help understand how diseases that threaten humans may change in virulence as they become more prevalent in a host population.

"Everybody who's had the flu has probably wondered at some point: 'Why do I feel so bad?'" said Dana Hawley of Virginia Polytechnic Institute, lead author of a paper on the results published today in the journal PLOS Biology.

"That's what we're studying: Why do pathogens cause harm to the hosts they depend upon? And, why are some life-threatening, while others only give you the sniffles?"

Disease virulence is something of a paradox.

"The jumping of a pathogen to a new host, such as bird flu jumping to humans, is just the first step of disease emergence," said Sam Scheiner, National Science Foundation (NSF) program director for the joint NSF‒National Institutes of Health Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program, which funded the research.

"The subsequent evolution of that pathogen in its new host can be critical to determining further [pathogen] spread," Scheiner said.

"This study is the first to confirm predictions that pathogens may evolve to become more deadly. The results are important for planning responses to events such as the bird flu outbreak in China."

To spread, viruses and bacteria must reproduce in great numbers. But as their numbers increase inside a host's body, the host gets more and more ill.

So a highly virulent disease runs the risk of killing or debilitating its hosts before the hosts can transmit the bug along. But sometimes pathogens find the right balance through evolution. The new study shows that can happen in just a few years.

Hawley and co-authors studied house finch eye disease, a form of conjunctivitis, or pinkeye, caused by the bacteria Mycoplasma gallisepticum.

It first appeared around Washington, D.C., in the 1990s. The house finch is native to the Southwest but has spread to towns and backyards across North America.

The bacteria are not harmful to humans, which makes them a good model for studying the evolution of dangerous diseases such as SARS, Ebola and avian flu.

"There's an expectation that a very virulent disease will become milder over time, to improve its ability to spread," said André Dhondt, director of bird population studies at Cornell University. "Otherwise, it just kills the host and that's the end of it for the organism.

"House finch eye disease gave us an opportunity to test this--and we were surprised to see it actually become worse rather than milder."

The researchers used frozen bacterial samples taken from sick birds in California and along the Eastern Seaboard on five dates between 1994 and 2010, as the pathogen was evolving and spreading.

The samples came from an archive maintained by co-author David Ley of North Carolina State University, who first isolated and identified the causative organism.

The team experimentally infected wild-caught, house finches, then measured how sick the birds got with each sample. The researchers kept the birds in cages as they fell ill then recovered (none of the birds died from the disease).

Contrary to expectations, the biologists found that in both regions--California and the Eastern Seaboard--the disease had evolved to become more virulent over time.

Birds exposed to later disease strains developed more swollen eyes that took longer to heal.

A less-virulent strain spread westward across the continent. Once established in California, however, the bacteria again began evolving higher virulence.

In evolutionary terms, some strains of the bacteria were better adapted to spreading across the continent, while others were more suited to becoming established in a more localized area.

"For the disease to disperse westward, a sick bird has to fly farther, and survive for longer, to pass on the infection," Hawley said. "That will select for strains that make the birds less ill.

"But when it gets established in a new location, there are lots of other potential hosts, especially around bird feeders. It can evolve toward a nastier illness because it's getting transmitted more quickly."

House finch eye disease was first observed in 1994 when birdwatchers reported birds with weepy, inflamed eyes as part of Project Feederwatch at Cornell University.

Though the disease does not kill birds directly, it weakens them and makes them easy targets for predators.

The disease quickly spread south along the East Coast, then north and west across the Great Plains and down the West Coast. By 1998 the house finch population in the eastern United States had dropped by half--a loss of an estimated 40 million birds.

Birdwatchers can do their part to help house finches and other backyard birds by washing their feeders in a 10 percent bleach solution twice a month.

Along with Hawley, Dhondt and Ley, the paper's authors include Erik Osnas and Andrew Dobson of Princeton University, and Wesley Hochachka of the Cornell Lab of Ornithology.

-NSF-

Media Contacts Cheryl Dybas, NSF (703) 292-7734 cdybas@nsf.gov
Pat Leonard, Cornell University (607) 254-2137 pel27@cornell.edu

Related WebsitesNSF Special Report: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases: 

http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/ecoinf/index.jsp
NSF News Release: Controlling the Spread of Diseases Among Humans, Other Animals and the Environment: http://www.nsf.gov/news/special_reports/ecoinf/index.jsp
NSF Discovery Article Series: Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases:

 http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=127103&org=NSF

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is an independent federal agency that supports fundamental research and education across all fields of science and engineering. In fiscal year (FY) 2012, its budget was $7.0 billion. NSF funds reach all 50 states through grants to nearly 2,000 colleges, universities and other institutions. Each year, NSF receives about 50,000 competitive requests for funding, and makes about 11,500 new funding awards. NSF also awards about $593 million in professional and service contracts yearly.

 Get News Updates by Email 

Useful NSF Web Sites:
NSF Home Page: http://www.nsf.gov
NSF News: http://www.nsf.gov/news/
For the News Media: http://www.nsf.gov/news/newsroom.jsp
Science and Engineering Statistics: http://www.nsf.gov/statistics/
Awards Searches: http://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/

 The National Science Foundation (NSF).

Guillermo Gonzalo Sánchez Achutegui

ayabaca@gmail.com

ayabaca@hotmail.com

ayabaca@yahoo.com

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