Scholar's Award: Plague's Third Pandemic: A History of Disease Ecology

学者奖：鼠疫的第三次大流行：疾病生态学史

• 批准号: 1126923
• 负责人: Susan Jones
• 金额: $ 7.48万
• 依托单位: University of Minnesota-Twin Cities
• 依托单位国家: 美国
• 项目类别: Continuing Grant
• 财政年份: 2011
• 资助国家: 美国
• 起止时间: 2011-09-01 至 2016-01-31
• 项目状态: 已结题
• 来源: https://www.nsf.gov/awardsearch/showAward?AWD_ID=1126923&HistoricalAwards=false
• 关键词: Scholar; Award; Plague; Third; Pandemic

IntroductionThis project analyzes the historical development of the field of Disease Ecology, which is a distinctive approach to understanding and controlling disease outbreaks. The view to be explored in this project is the extent which disease ecology had its roots in quantitative population biology and animal ecology. The analysis is it developed in the context of the Third Pandemic of Bubonic Plague (so named in 1894), which killed far fewer people than previous pandemics, even though human activities spread the disease quickly over a much greater area of the globe. Between the 1890s and 1980s, the plague invaded and infected wild animal populations, and it was widely feared that these animal "reservoirs" of disease could be a permanent source of infection for humans. Veterinarians, tropical medicine specialists, ecologists and local workers formed a global network of researchers and public health officials who tested and honed ecological models and methods. Along with its public health role, disease ecology played an important part in shaping the science of ecology and in assessing microbes' fitness and use as biological weapons at mid-century (1940s-60s). After a period of quiescence during which plague outbreaks receded (1960s-1980s), disease ecology has become important again with the re-emergence of diseases such as influenza, HIV/AIDS, tuberculosis and BSE.Intellectual MeritThe project analyzes an important interdisciplinary network of scientists involved in global circulations of scientific knowledge about ecology and disease. It addresses several important questions. How did this network overcome geographical, disciplinary, and cultural boundaries? What role did vernacular knowledge play in the development and applications of disease ecology? Aiming to be a foundational history of disease ecology, this project serves as a fresh approach to the history of ecology and informs our understanding of how ecological knowledge has circulated among various disciplines over the past century. The project bridges a needless divide between historians of science (who have written about ecology) and historians of medicine (who have written about disease). The project revises historical analysis by bridging these sub-disciplines and their constituent subjects (human and animal). Its trans-disciplinary approach follows that of the disease ecologists themselves.Broader ImpactsThis project also addresses a broader audience of public health officials, scientists and laypeople concerned about the global spread of infectious disease. International health and wildlife conservation organizations use the models of disease ecology to assess the dynamic interactions at the human-animal-ecosystems interface. This project demonstrates how and why practicing disease ecologists have come to rely upon a priori mathematical models and what has been lost in the process (including local social and spatial conditions; and climate change and other variables important to future outbreaks). The PI is disseminating results through public lectures, a book, articles, and a website (educational materials for public dissemination); a new university course (integrating research activities into teaching); graduate student training (including underrepresented groups); and participation in a National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis Working Group, which integrates research into state, federal and private-sector partnerships.

本项目分析了疾病生态学领域的历史发展，这是了解和控制疾病暴发的独特方法。在这个项目中要探索的观点是，疾病生态学在多大程度上植根于定量种群生物学和动物生态学。这一分析是在第三次黑死病大流行（1894年如此命名）的背景下进行的，尽管人类活动迅速将这种疾病传播到全球更大的地区，但这次死亡人数远低于以往的大流行。在19世纪90年代和80年代之间，鼠疫入侵并感染了野生动物种群，人们普遍担心这些疾病的动物“宿主”可能成为人类感染的永久来源。兽医、热带医学专家、生态学家和当地工作人员组成了一个由研究人员和公共卫生官员组成的全球网络，他们测试和完善了生态模型和方法。在20世纪中叶（20世纪40年代至60年代），疾病生态学在塑造生态学和评估微生物的适应性以及作为生物武器的用途方面发挥了重要作用，并发挥了公共卫生作用。在鼠疫疫情消退的一段平静期（1960 -1980年代）之后，随着流感、艾滋病毒/艾滋病、结核病和疯牛病等疾病的重新出现，疾病生态学再次变得重要起来。该项目分析了一个重要的跨学科科学家网络，这些科学家参与了关于生态和疾病的科学知识的全球传播。它解决了几个重要的问题。这个网络是如何克服地理、学科和文化的界限的？乡土知识在疾病生态学的发展和应用中发挥了什么作用？该项目旨在成为疾病生态学的基础历史，为生态学的历史提供了一种新的途径，并告诉我们在过去的一个世纪里生态知识是如何在各个学科之间传播的。这个项目弥合了科学史学家（写过生态学）和医学史学家（写过疾病）之间不必要的鸿沟。该项目通过连接这些子学科及其组成科目（人类和动物）来修改历史分析。它的跨学科方法遵循疾病生态学家自己的方法。更广泛的影响本项目还面向更广泛的受众，包括关注传染病全球传播的公共卫生官员、科学家和非专业人士。国际卫生和野生动物保护组织使用疾病生态学模型来评估人-动物-生态系统界面的动态相互作用。这个项目展示了疾病生态学家如何以及为什么依赖先验的数学模型，以及在这个过程中失去了什么（包括当地的社会和空间条件；气候变化和其他对未来疫情很重要的变量）。通过公开讲座、书籍、文章、网站（面向大众的教育资料）等方式进行宣传；大学新课程（研究性活动与教学相结合）研究生培训（包括代表性不足的群体）；并参加国家数学和生物合成研究所工作组，该工作组将研究与州、联邦和私营部门的伙伴关系结合起来。