Two complementary approaches are being taken:
- research into specific diseases or types of disease, and the development of models for climate change’s future effects on them;
- broader-scale research into new approaches to modelling the effects of climate change on infectious animal diseases.
Current and recent activities include:
Covid-19 - we are undertaking Big Data and modelling studies to identify potential coronavirus hosts, hotspots for spill-over and the impact of climate on the rate of transmission
HORN - One Health Regional Network for the Horn of Africa - a £8.8M Global Challenges Research Fund Grow call project to build capacity in the area of One Health in Kenya, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Somaliland. See www.onehealthhorn.net
Bluetongue - a midge-borne viral disease of ruminants that is spreading in response to climate change. We are developing mathematical models to describe its spread between British farms; integrating state-of-the-art climate models and disease models to predict the future risk of the disease in Europe; and undertaking a programme of field work to better understand the ecology of the insect vectors.
See www.lucindagroup.org for simulations of BT in England and Wales, and other project outputs
Liver fluke - a trematode worm parasite of sheep and cattle (and occasionally humans) that has a snail intermediate host. We are developing climate-driven models of its future incidence and distribution; building statistical models of its present distribution in dairy farms in England and Wales in terms of climate and environmental variables; and improving understanding of the link between immunity to liver fluke and bovine tuberculosis.
Mosquito-borne arboviruses - We are determining the influence of temperature on the transmisskon of Zika virus and its Aedes vectors.
Malaria - we are investigating the influence of El Niño 2016 on the dynamics of malaria vectors in the Kilombero Valley of Tanzania. Watch a video here.
Enhanced Infectious Diseases database (EID2) - see next tab.
BBSRC Partnership Awards - we have an ongoing partnership awards in the area of vector-borne disease (common threats and shared solutions) with University of California Davis, UC Riverside, and University of Idaho.
Back to: Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences