OPUS: Lyme disease ecology in eastern North America: questioning dogma, embracing complexity

作品：北美东部的莱姆病生态学：质疑教条，拥抱复杂性

• 批准号: 0815413
• 负责人: Richard Ostfeld
• 金额: $ 13.68万
• 依托单位: Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies, Inc.
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Standard Grant
• 财政年份: 2008
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2008-07-15 至 2011-06-30
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=0815413&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: OPUS; Lyme; disease; ecology; eastern

When a new infectious disease emerges, biomedical scientists mobilize to identify the key species (pathogen, wildlife reservoir, vector) or climatic factors responsible, and to produce a sketch of environmental sources of risk. These sketches are insufficient at best and inaccurate at worst, potentially leading to inadequate mitigation of disease risk. For example, attempts to reduce Lyme disease (LD) incidence by targeting white-tailed deer and white-footed mice have failed because several other important hosts for ticks can compensate for reductions in deer and mouse populations. The major objective of the proposed research is to identify the causes of limited success, using LD as a case study. The proposed research will provide a synthesis of knowledge about LD to: (1) describe the predominant initial approach to emerging diseases; (2) illustrate the shortcomings of such an approach in predicting risk of human exposure or prescribing effective control of that risk; and (3) explore the broader ecological context of disease risk. LD is arguably the best-studied vector-borne zoonotic disease in the world and serves as a model for many other diseases. The synthesis will be used to describe a more holistic approach to the ecology of emerging infectious diseases that is expected to provide a more thorough, sound, and rapid understanding of risk leading to more effective mitigation.

当出现新的传染病时，生物医学科学家会动员起来，确定造成这种疾病的关键物种（病原体、野生动物宿主、媒介）或气候因素，并绘制出风险环境来源的草图。 这些草图往好了说是不够充分的，往坏了说是不准确的，可能导致疾病风险的缓解不充分。 例如，通过针对白尾鹿和白足小鼠来减少莱姆病（LD）发病率的尝试失败了，因为蜱虫的其他几种重要宿主可以弥补鹿和小鼠数量的减少。 拟议研究的主要目标是使用 LD 作为案例研究来确定有限成功的原因。 拟议的研究将提供有关 LD 的综合知识，以：（1）描述新出现疾病的主要初步方法； (2) 说明这种方法在预测人类暴露风险或规定对该风险进行有效控制方面的缺点； (3) 探索疾病风险更广泛的生态背景。 LD 可以说是世界上研究最透彻的媒介传播人畜共患疾病，并可作为许多其他疾病的模型。 该综合将用于描述新发传染病生态学的更全面的方法，预计将提供对风险的更彻底、合理和快速的了解，从而实现更有效的缓解。