New research co-authored by UF EPI’s Dr. Sadie Ryan and graduate student Cat Lippi sheds light on the climate suitability for Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitos and transmission rates of Zika, chikungunya, and dengue fever.
University of Florida scientists presented new research Sunday outlining ways to prevent the spread of the Zika and dengue viruses through the development of a Zika vaccine and a focus on spraying indoors to control mosquitoes.
For more than four decades, cholera has recurred in Cameroon, affecting tens of thousands of people a year. Most recently, the West African country was one of four that had a death rate of more than five percent from the bacterial disease, exceeding the World Health Organization’s target of less than one percent. Now, researchers have discovered one reason Cameroon has struggled to control the disease. Cholera follows different, distinct outbreak patterns in different climate subzones of the large country, the researchers reported in PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases.
A European research commission will award the Emerging Pathogens Institute (EPI) at the University of Florida nearly 1 million euros as part of a grant supporting interdisciplinary research on the Zika virus and its effects on pregnancy.
Common Aedes Aegypti mosquito, magnified 2,000 times at the University of Florida’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences, 6/28, prepares to feed on human skin. After 15 years of test on more than 3,900 compounds, Jerry Bulter, professor of entomology, has developed a safe, natural insect repellent that protects people against everything from mosquitoes to ticks and tiny “no-see-ums.” Its the first effective alternative to products containing DEET, the most widely used ingredient in insect repellent now on the market. Butler’s new herbal repellent is patented by the UF and licensed to a commercial firm.
A larger portion of Africa is currently at high risk for malaria transmission than previously predicted, according to a new University of Florida mapping study.
A new 5 year multi-institutional collaborative research grant of $1.85 million funded by the National Science Foundation’s Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (NSF EEID) program will support research on the effect of temperature on 13 different diseases transmitted by insects. It will also measure the capacity for two common disease-carrying mosquitoes in the Americas to adapt to new (or changing) temperatures.
On Sept. 29, the Emerging Pathogens Institute presented an overview of Ebola and the recent outbreak to the Florida Congressional Delegation and the Board of Governors. With the number of Ebola cases growing exponentially, EPI believes it is important to be informed on the disease and how it is spreading in West Africa and all around the world.
