Corresponding authors: Navideh Noori, nnoori@uga.edu; John M. Drake, john@drakeresearchlab.com; and Pejman Rohani, Rohani@uga.edu Since the widespread introduction of the polio vaccine in the mid 1900s, poliomyelitis, an acute viral disease, has been almost eradicated, with a decline of over 99% in the annual wild poliovirus (WPV) incidence. However, challenges including conflict, religious beliefs, and social […]
Corresponding authors: Ana Bento, anisabelbento@gmail.com; Pejman Rohani, Rohani@uga.edu Despite high vaccine coverage, a recent national resurgence of pertussis (whooping cough) in England and Wales has researchers questioning the drivers behind the sudden surge of this highly contagious respiratory disease. Interestingly, researchers have noted a shift in the affected age-distribution of […]
Corresponding Authors: John P. Schmidt, jps@uga.edu; John M. Drake, john@drakeresearchlab.com; Patrick Stephens, prsteph@uga.edu The increasing globalization of human, animal, and plant populations drives researchers to investigate how, and at what rate, introduced species will successfully become part of a native ecosystem. For many organisms, certain traits are often related to […]
Corresponding Author: John Drake, john@drakeresearchlab.com When studying infectious disease dynamics, it is important to understand the factors that facilitate (or prevent) pathogen invasion into a host population. For example, host population density may affect the pathogen invasion threshold, or the level below which a pathogen is unable to invade a […]
Corresponding Author: Mike Strand, mrstrand@uga.edu Just as humans depend on our gut bacteria for efficient digestion, many insects also harbor bacterial symbionts that facilitate healthy functioning and provide protection. For example, pea aphids (A. pisum) depend on the bacterial symbiont H. defensa, which protects them from parasitic wasps (A. ervi). […]
Corresponding Author: Paige Miller, paige.miller@uga.edu Although vaccinations are widely utilized, many childhood infections, such as measles and whooping cough, continue to pose health threats for human populations. An alternative method for reducing the negative impacts of infectious diseases involves predicting disease emergence using early warning signals (EWS), which are statistical […]
Corresponding Author: James E. Byers, jebyers@uga.edu For any ecosystem, interactions between parasites and their hosts are complex, and are often influenced by changing environmental conditions. Even at small spatial scales, such as coastal intertidal zones, changing conditions can affect parasite abundance and infection rates, which may ultimately regulate the distribution […]
Corresponding Author: Alyssa Gehman, alyssamina@gmail.com Summary Writer: Trippe Ross, tross312@uga.edu Host organisms and their parasites undergo physiological changes in response to climate warming, and these responses may alter the spread and transmission of infectious diseases. Ectotherms are especially sensitive to environmental temperature, and climate warming may reduce or increase disease […]
Author for Correspondence: D.V. Volokhov, dmitriy.volokhov@fda.hhs.gov Summary Author: Trippe Ross, tross312@uga.edu Bats are known reservoir hosts for viruses, but their potential for being hosts for non-viral pathogens is not yet well studied. Due to the high frequency of direct contact between vampire bats and animals, it is likely that their […]
Mercury is a heavy metal that, when accumulated in an organism, leads to neurotoxic effects. The bioaccumulation of Mercury among aquatic food webs is well studied, but Mercury’s effect on terrestrial consumers has not been studied in depth. A terrestrial consumer’s dietary guild that contains the aquatic food web could […]
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