Determining the vector ecology and epidemiology of tick-borne spotted fever group Rickettsia in a large urban setting of Houston, TX.

确定德克萨斯州休斯顿大城市环境中蜱传斑热病立克次体的媒介生态学和流行病学。

• 批准号: 10218814
• 负责人: Sarah Murphy Gunter
• 金额: $ 8.03万
• 依托单位: BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 财政年份: 2021
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2021-02-24 至 2023-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10218814
• 关键词: Adult; Animals; Area; Canis familiaris; Childhood; Cities; Clinical Pathology; Collection; Control Animal; County; Coupled; Data; Diagnosis; Disease; Disease Outbreaks; Ensure; Epidemiologist; Epidemiology; Facility Controls; Family; Favorable Clinical Outcome; Fever; Geographic Locations; Goals; Health; Hospitals; Human; Infection; Intervention; Kansas; Location; Manuscripts; Medicine; Molecular; Mosquito Control; Municipalities; Pathogenicity; Pediatric Hospitals; Pilot Projects; Preparation; Prevalence; Prevention; Public Health; Regulation; Rickettsia; Rickettsia Infections; Rickettsia parkeri; Rickettsia rickettsii; Risk; Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever; Shelter facility; System; Target Populations; Testing; Texas; Tick-Borne Diseases; Ticks; United States; Urban Population; Vector Ecology; Vector-transmitted infectious disease; Veterinarians; Work; antimicrobial; base; burden of illness; clinical risk; college; design; disease transmission; disorder risk; epidemiology study; gulf coast; high risk population; human disease; improved; infection risk; member; metropolitan; multidisciplinary; novel; pathogen; prevent; public health intervention; spotted fever; tick-borne; tick-borne pathogen; tool; transmission process; urban setting; vector; vector control; vector tick

Summary. Spotted fever group rickettsioses (SFGR) are a family of closely related tick-borne rickettsial pathogens that cause a febrile illness and, depending on the causative agent, can be fatal. In Texas, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and another emerging SFGR pathogen, Rickettsia parkeri, are known to cause human disease and likely represent a growing public health problem. We recently identified an unexpected number of autochthonous cases of SFGR presenting to a large pediatric hospital in Houston, TX. These emergent cases represent transmission of SFGR in a dense urban environment and indicate that our current understanding of the risk of SFGR in the southern United States is critically outdated. In order to effectively gauge the public health impact of SFGR, we must improve our understanding of its transmission dynamics, vector ecology and risk of clinical disease in the southern US; especially in large urban center where millions could be at risk for infection. Our central hypothesis is that SFGR is endemic in tick vectors in southeast Texas, including densely populated urban centers. Using hospital-based geospatial data of locally acquired SFGR from three major pediatric and adult hospital systems in the City of Houston/Harris County area, we will conduct targeted tick surveillance. Additionally, we will work with municipal animal shelters to collect tick vectors off of dogs presenting to the shelter. We will conduct molecular and geospatial analysis to determine the burden and distribution of rickettsial pathogens and their associated vectors in the region. Our collaborative team of vector-borne disease epidemiologists at Baylor College of Medicine, entomologists at Harris County Vector Control, and veterinarians at City of Houston and Harris County are uniquely qualified to tackle this emerging public health problem. The aims of this project are 1) determine the prevalence of spotted fever group rickettsioses in questing tick vectors through targeted collections based on location of autochthonous human cases in Harris County, Texas, and 2) determine the prevalence of rickettsial pathogens among tick vectors collected from domestic dogs in Harris County, Texas. Our hope is that the novel data collected from this pilot study will ultimately aid in preventing transmission and mitigating disease risk to humans. Our targeted approach, coupled with a molecular epidemiologic investigation, will allow us to determine where tick vectors and SFGR pathogens are a relevant threat to human health. Our long-term goals are to define the epidemiology of SFGR transmission in the densely populated region of Harris County, and to design targeted public health to prevent further infection in the region. This study will critically impact our understanding of SFGR in southeast Texas and will allow us the opportunity to identify high-risk populations for targeted prevention and intervention efforts.

概括。 Spotted Fever Group Rickettsioses（SFGR）是一个密切相关的Tick-Borne Rickettsial的家族 引起高热疾病的病原体，根据病因，可能是致命的。在德克萨斯州，洛基 山发现发烧和另一种新兴的SFGR病原体Rickettsia parkeri众所周知会引起人类 疾病，可能代表了日益增长的公共卫生问题。我们最近确定了意外的数量 SFGR的自我调查病例向德克萨斯州休斯敦的一家大型儿科医院介绍。这些紧急情况 表示SFGR在密集的城市环境中的传播，并表明我们当前对 美国南部的SFGR风险急切。为了有效评估公共卫生 SFGR的影响，我们必须提高对其传播动态，向量生态学和风险的理解 美国南部的临床疾病；尤其是在大型城市中心，有数百万可能有感染的风险。 我们的中心假设是SFGR在德克萨斯州东南部的壁虱向量中是地方性的，包括人口稠密 城市中心。使用从三个主要儿科和 休斯顿市/哈里斯县地区的成人医院系统，我们将进行针对性的tick监视。 此外，我们将与市政动物收容所合作，收集从避难所送出的狗的tick媒介。 我们将进行分子和地理空间分析，以确定立克的负担和分布 病原体及其在该地区的相关媒介。我们的媒介传播疾病的合作团队 贝勒医学院的流行病学家，哈里斯县媒介控制的昆虫学家和兽医 在休斯敦市和哈里斯县，有资格解决这个新兴的公共卫生问题。这 该项目的目的是1）确定斑点发烧群体rickettsioses的普遍性 通过基于德克萨斯州哈里斯县的自我围绕人案件的位置的目标收藏和2） 确定从哈里斯（Harris）的家犬收集的tick矢量中立克病原体的患病率 德克萨斯州县。我们希望从这项试点研究中收集的新数据最终将有助于防止 向人类传播和减轻疾病风险。我们的目标方法与分子结合 流行病学调查将使我们能够确定tick矢量和SFGR病原体在哪里相关 威胁人类健康。我们的长期目标是定义密集的SFGR传播的流行病学 哈里斯县人口稠密的地区，并设计针对性的公共卫生，以防止该地区进一步感染。 这项研究将严重影响我们对得克萨斯州东南部SFGR的理解，并将使我们有机会 确定有针对性的预防和干预工作的高风险人群。