New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases

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In New England, where the predominant vector-borne disease (VBD) burden is due to ticks, tick control and suppression practices can barely keep up with regional endemicity conditions, despite the fact that New England has a long history with ticks. With just 4.5% of the U.S. population, New England accounts for 20% of confirmed Lyme disease cases in the U.S. This project proposes a New England Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (NEWVEC) to make significant progress in combatting ticks and other arthropod disease vectors in the six New England states through applied research and technical evaluation of methods to prevent vector bites, suppress disease-causing vectors, and promote public adoption of vector-control measures. To sustain and amplify this public health imperative, NEWVEC will train students to enter the public health entomology workforce to address VBD, and will engage stakeholders through a community of practice that can help its research and training efforts remain relevant, effective, and impactful. The NEWVEC strategy has three components: Applied research on tick suppression, Training of public health entomologists with expertise in vector-borne diseases, and Community of Practice to enhance regional effectiveness of evidence-based methods. Applied research projects will follow four parallel streams: 1) Standardizing and optimizing personal protection and control products and applications for commercial and residential use; 2) Discovering and evaluating emerging technologies to suppress ticks and prevent tick biting; 3) Designing and testing habitat and host-targeted interventions for suppressing tick populations; and 4) Assessing human factors and public health approaches for tick control. Work in these areas will be conducted by researchers at six New England universities, supported by two core facilities: a Molecular Analysis lab for pathogen testing and taxonomic bar- coding at the University of Massachusetts Amherst (UMA), and a Tick rearing and experimental test bed at the University of Rhode Island. A multi-tiered training program in Public Health Entomology based at UMA will develop concentrations and certificate programs at both the undergraduate and graduate levels to train highly competent graduates for employment in the field, while providing a range of high-quality professional development training experiences for public health professional staff and technical employees of commercial applicator firms around New England. NEWVEC’s Community of Practice will promote extra-academic collaboration in its research, promoting two-way transmission of vital knowledge among the center’s researchers, its students and trainees, the public health stakeholder community, and others concerned with vector-borne disease prevention in New England. NEWVEC will concentrate on the most important New England vectors, most challenging barriers to VBD progress, and most promising and impactful vector control interventions and methods. By being technically credible, NEWVEC will be relied upon by the VBD practice community, thus influencing adoption of recommendations and promoting scalability to reach all areas in the New England region.