Recent EPI Publications

The Andes hantavirus outbreak associated with the MV Hondius cruise ship has appropriately focused global attention on the urgent priorities of outbreak response—namely, identifying cases, caring for severely ill patients, protecting health-care workers, tracing contacts, safely. However, the outbreak also raises an important One Health question: what risks exist or what considerations should be undertaken with respect to emerging zoonotic viruses across animal, environmental, or transport-associated interfaces?

Comparative oncology can uncover novel mechanisms of cancer resistance and progression across animals. Non-traditional model organisms with naturally high or low cancer prevalence may provide further insights into metastasis or cancer resistance. In this context, the “lemon frost” morph of the leopard gecko (Eublepharis macularius) shows high prevalence of iridophoromas, exceeding 80%. These tumors can recur and metastasize, presenting a unique opportunity to study pigment cell cancer and tumor progression in a non-mammalian vertebrate.

Ancient pathogen genomics has transformed infectious-disease history, yet Africa remains severely underrepresented despite its central role in human evolution, biodiversity, and pathogen emergence. Evidence from Eurasia and the Americas shows that dated pathogen genomes can overturn models of origin, transmission, and dispersal that were previously inferred from modern data alone.

Sugar feeding is essential for mosquito survival and reproduction, yet its temporal dynamics and species-specific patterns remain poorly characterized under field conditions. We deployed a low-cost, continuous infrared video surveillance system at artificial sugar bait stations at two coastal Florida habitats (hammock forest and mangrove swamp) over a 10-night period, recording 113 mosquito visitation events while concurrently sampling the local mosquito assemblage using CO2-baited and sucrose-baited traps.

The derivation of authentic embryonic stem cells (ESCs) across mammalian species remains a major challenge. Here, we report the development of a defined, serum-free culture system, termed 6iL/E4, that enables the derivation and long-term self-renewal of ESCs across diverse mammalian species.

The objective was to develop and validate subtype-specific, fairness-aware machine learning (ML) models that integrate clinical and social determinants of health (SDoH) information to predict 6-month readmission or mortality after hospitalization among patients with HFpEF or HFrEF, and to evaluate the incremental contribution of SDoH, model explainability, and subgroup error disparities across demographic groups.

Na+, K+ATPase (NKA) has been proposed as an essential element for herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) infection, especially during the first 3 infection hours. This evidence is underscored by the antiviral activity of NKA classical inhibitors, commonly known as cardiac glycosides. In this study, we evaluated whether the anti-HSV-1 activity of extracts from Myrciaria floribunda leaves and nanomusified extracts would be related to blocking of ion pumping via NKA inhibition.

As the Democratic Republic of the Congo confronts its 17th recorded Ebola disease outbreak, global health discourse has again reached for familiar militarised language, such as killer virus, deadly enemy, battle against Ebola, and war on disease. Although understandable, such framing is scientifically incomplete and increasingly unhelpful and implies intentionality while diverting attention from the ecological, social, political, and historical conditions that enable zoonotic spillover and outbreak amplification. While emergency outbreak control is essential, durable prevention requires sustained action on upstream determinants that increase spillover risk, delay detection, undermine institutional trust, and amplify transmission.

Aedes aegypti is the most important mosquito vector of arboviruses worldwide, originating on islands of the southwest Indian Ocean before spreading to Africa and, more recently, the Americas and Asia. Migration out of Africa was enabled by the evolution of behaviors that increased human-vector contact, and as Ae. aegypti became more domesticated, arboviral competence may have also increased. Here we investigate variation in vector competence between present-day populations of Ae. aegypti from Florida (USA) and Tanzania (East Africa) and use a genomics approach to examine genetic differentiation potentially underlying traits important for arbovirus transmission.

Candidozyma auris, first recognized in 2009, has emerged as a pathogen of major global concern, particularly in association with health care–associated infections in long-term care facilities. In a study of infected and colonized patients conducted between 1/17/2023 and 11/30/2023 at our medical center in North-Central Florida, whole-genome sequence data were obtained for 43 C. auris isolates from 36 patients.