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environment and indicate that our current understanding of the risk of SFGR in the southern United States is critically outdated.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。斑点热群立克次体病 (SFGR) 是密切相关的蜱传立克次体家族 引起发热性疾病的病原体，根据病原体的不同，可能致命。在德克萨斯州，洛基 已知山斑热和另一种新出现的 SFGR 病原体帕克氏立克次体可导致人类 疾病，并可能代表一个日益严重的公共卫生问题。我们最近发现了数量意想不到的 德克萨斯州休斯顿一家大型儿科医院出现 SFGR 本土病例。这些突发情况 代表了 SFGR 在密集城市环境中的传播，并表明我们目前对 美国南部 SFGR 的风险已经完全过时了。为了有效衡量公众健康状况 SFGR 的影响，我们必须提高对其传播动力学、媒介生态学和风险的了解 美国南部的临床疾病；尤其是在大城市中心，数百万人可能面临感染风险。 我们的中心假设是 SFGR 在德克萨斯州东南部的蜱虫媒介中流行，包括人口稠密的地区 城市中心。使用来自三个主要儿科和医院的本地获取的 SFGR 的基于医院的地理空间数据 在休斯顿市/哈里斯县地区的成人医院系统中，我们将进行有针对性的蜱虫监测。 此外，我们将与市政动物收容所合作，从收容所的狗身上收集蜱虫媒介。 我们将进行分子和地理空间分析，以确定立克次体的负荷和分布 该地区的病原体及其相关媒介。我们的媒介传播疾病合作团队 贝勒医学院的流行病学家、哈里斯县病媒控制中心的昆虫学家和兽医 休斯顿市和哈里斯县拥有独特的资格来解决这一新出现的公共卫生问题。这 该项目的目标是 1) 确定蜱传病媒介中斑疹热群立克次体病的流行情况 通过基于德克萨斯州哈里斯县本土人类病例位置的有针对性的收集，以及 2) 确定从哈里斯家犬收集的蜱虫媒介中立克次体病原体的流行情况 德克萨斯州县。我们希望从这项试点研究中收集到的新数据最终将有助于预防 传播和减轻疾病对人类的风险。我们的针对性方法，加上分子 流行病学调查将使我们能够确定蜱虫媒介和 SFGR 病原体的相关性 对人类健康的威胁。我们的长期目标是确定人口稠密地区 SFGR 传播的流行病学 哈里斯县人口稠密地区，并设计有针对性的公共卫生，以防止该地区进一步感染。 这项研究将严重影响我们对德克萨斯州东南部 SFGR 的理解，并使我们有机会 识别高危人群，进行有针对性的预防和干预工作。