Project R-8902

ECODIS: Effects of co-infections on the emergence of an avian disease Mycoplasma gallisepticum. (Research)

The investigation of processes that trigger cross-species pathogen transmission is central to disease ecology and epidemiology. The interactions of coinfecting pathogens within the same host are considered to be important herein, but very little is known about their dynamics in the wild. There is a need for general concepts and theories. This MSCA fellowship project awarded to Dieter Heylen proposes to fill this gap by determining a conceptual framework for copathogen effects on disease transmission, including vector-borne and directly transmittable pathogens. Dieter will combine experimental and field surveillance data on vertebrate-vector-pathogen systems (including M. gallisepticum and B. burgdorferi s.s. bacteria of Northern American hosts and vectors) to create mathematical and theoretical models on cross-host infection risks, using methods from disease ecology and human epidemiology. He will be supervised by Niel Hens (Hasselt University), Bryan Grenfell and Jessica Metcalf (Princeton University) and André Dhondt (Cornell University).

16 June 2018 - 30 April 2022