CNH-L: Dynamics of Zoonotic Systems: Human-Bat-Pathogen Interactions

人类与野生动物之间互动频率的增加导致了新的人畜共患病的出现，这是一种从动物传播给人类的传染病。人畜共患病是对生物安全和公共卫生的一个重大威胁。蝙蝠是一些最引人注目的人畜共患病的发源地，包括埃博拉病毒、马尔堡病毒、尼帕病毒和亨德拉病毒，以及严重急性呼吸道综合征冠状病毒（SARS）。从蝙蝠到人类的传播通常发生在蝙蝠放弃自然栖息地以利用与人类住区有关的资源时。该项目将调查栖息地的丧失如何导致蝙蝠迁移到人口稠密的发达地区，从而导致蝙蝠与人类接触的增加和疾病传播的增加。该研究将集中在亨德拉病毒，在澳大利亚的蝙蝠传播的病原体，研究不断变化的景观，自然栖息地的丧失，人类，蝙蝠和病原体之间的相互作用。在澳大利亚东部的城镇和城市中，蝙蝠运动的激增导致了蝙蝠与人类的负面互动增加，并增加了亨德拉病毒对马和人类的死亡率。研究的最终目标是确定和减轻导致疾病发病率增加和健康状况不佳的具体相互作用因素。该研究小组包括来自10个学术机构和一个非营利组织的研究人员。该项目将培训美国学生和博士后研究人员，改善科学交流和保护野生动物和人类健康的政策，并将在国家和国际合作者中建立更大的研究能力。方法和结果将可推广到许多发生类似人畜共患病事件但生物监测、疾病预防和应对疫情资源有限的国家。该项目将解决以下假设：蝙蝠-人类负面相互作用的根本原因是维持蝙蝠游牧觅食生态所需的栖息地丧失，以及一些管理决策（例如，破坏栖息地，而不是给马接种疫苗）可能会加剧冲突，蔓延和栖息地丧失。该研究整合了生态学，生理学，流行病学，政治学，人类学，兽医学，行为生态学和数学建模的理论和实地数据。将收集关于土地利用变化和蝙蝠的生理、能量和运动的数据;将使用机械模型来研究这些变量之间的关系如何影响蝙蝠对城市地区的利用。研究人员将对蝙蝠病毒的动态进行实地和建模研究，以帮助预测未来病毒溢出的情况。他们还将使用由研究人员和当地社区合作制作的叙述，对蝙蝠滋扰，病毒溢出和疫苗接种的风险认知和决策进行实验。最终，该项目将导致一个以证据为基础的计划，以扭转导致流行病和野生动物损失的人类与野生动物的负面相互作用。它还将导致建立一个公众教育和参与框架，得到当地社区的认可，并嵌入生态恢复倡议。

Increases in the frequency of human-wildlife interaction have led to the emergence of new zoonoses, which are infectious diseases that are transmitted from animals to humans. Zoonoses are a major threat to biosecurity and public health. Bats are home to some of the highest-profile emerging zoonoses, including Ebola, Marburg, Nipah, and Hendra viruses, and severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus (SARS). Transmission from bats to humans often occurs when bats abandon natural habitats to take advantage of resources associated with human settlements. This project will investigate how habitat loss causes bat migration into populated developed areas, which leads to increased bat-human encounters and increased disease transmission. The research will focus on Hendra virus, a bat borne pathogen in Australia, to study the interactions among changing landscapes, loss of natural habitats, humans, bats, and pathogens. A surge of bat movement into towns and cities in eastern Australia has led to increased negative bat-human interactions, and increased mortality of horses and humans from Hendra virus. An ultimate goal of the research is to identify and mitigate the specific interacting factors responsible for increased disease incidence and poor health outcomes. The research team includes investigators at ten academic institutions and a non-profit organization. The project will train U.S. students and postdoctoral researchers, improve science communication and policies that protect wildlife and human health, and will build greater research capacity among national and international collaborators. Methods and results will be generalizable to numerous countries in which similar zoonotic events occur, but that have limited resources for biological surveillance, disease prevention, and responding to outbreaks.This project will address the hypotheses that the root cause of negative bat-human interactions is the loss of habitat needed to sustain bats' nomadic feeding ecology, and that some management decisions (e.g., destruction of roost sites, not vaccinating horses) may exacerbate conflict, spillover, and habitat loss. The research integrates theory and field data spanning ecology, physiology, epidemiology, political science, anthropology, veterinary medicine, behavioral ecology, and mathematical modeling. Data will be collected on land-use change and the physiology, energetics, and movement of bats; mechanistic models will be used to examine how the relations among these variables influence bats' use of urban areas. The researchers will conduct field and modeling studies on the dynamics of bat viruses to help predict future instances of virus spillover. They will additionally use narratives, collaboratively produced by researchers and local communities, to conduct experiments on risk perceptions and decisions about bat nuisance, virus spillover, and vaccination. Ultimately, the project will lead to an evidence-based program for reversing the negative human-wildlife interactions that lead to epidemics and loss of wildlife. It will also lead to a framework for public education and engagement that is endorsed by local communities and is embedded in ecological restoration initiatives.