ARBOVIRUS CIRCULATION AND DIVERSITY OF MOSQUITO VECTORS ACROSS HABITATS IN THE GAMBIA

项目摘要/摘要 这个应用程序试图检查虫媒病毒和蚊子媒介的流行情况，并确定它们可能 在冈比亚的影响力。该国现有的疟疾调查基础设施将启动这一计划 项目。与疟疾一样，蚊媒虫媒病毒也会引起发烧疾病；发病率很高，甚至 死亡率，在世界多个地区。事实上，人们对传播在 冈比亚；除了三个例子：40多年前爆发的黄热病，局部抗体 寨卡病毒的证据，以及两例一次性的裂谷热病例。这个独特国家的虫媒病毒活性很差 明白了。重要的是，冈比亚有一些不能归因于疟疾的急性发热病病例， 我们假设虫媒病毒在该地区传播，这可能导致部分 这类案件。此外，除了按蚊外，关于当地蚊子种群的数据很少。 疟疾的病媒和虫媒病毒的潜在病媒。对自然环境负有责任的蚊子物种入罪 虫媒病毒传播对于了解病原体动态和设计精确的媒介控制至关重要 战略。 为了加强对冈比亚新出现的公共卫生威胁的反应，拟议的研究旨在 消除蚊媒虫媒病毒及其媒介知识的空白：(A)在 冈比亚(利用现有的疟疾监测框架，并扩大抽样地点) 对比不同景观在旱季和雨季的病媒生物群落，并 评估虫媒病毒证据，以确定蚊子在各地区的感染率；以及(B)评估媒介 物种多样性和丰富性，以及检测到的蚊子物种和虫媒病毒风险的预测因素， 考虑到它们的流行与季节性、大气候和景观发展有关。矢量 未来，虫媒病毒的存在可以与人类病例的潜在地理流行率进行比较。 如果发烧不是由疟疾引起的，当地流行病学，包括关于什么虫媒病毒的基线知识 而它们的媒介在一个区域内循环，可以指导医疗决策。拟议的研究既是 重大而新颖的，因为它解决了对虫媒病毒存在的缺乏了解在以前的 未经研究的国家，一个正在经历原因不明的急性发热病病例的国家。虽然是近邻 塞内加尔以虫媒病毒的存在而闻名，冈比亚有独立的地理位置、公共卫生系统、 和政治背景，在这方面没有被探索过。非疟疾发热性疾病发生在冈比亚， 我们建议初步研究虫媒病毒作为潜在的病原体，允许改进 对传染病病原体的了解。我们的目标是为虫媒病毒的研究产生初步数据 威胁冈比亚的健康，并最终促进有针对性地预防虫媒病毒病原体(以及 如疟疾)和更精简的方法来应对病媒传播的疾病负担。

Project Summary/Abstract This application seeks to examine arbovirus and mosquito vector prevalence and identify their possible influence in The Gambia. An existing infrastructure in the country for malaria investigation will jumpstart this project. Like malaria, mosquito-borne arboviruses can cause febrile illness; with significant morbidity and even mortality, in multiple regions of the world. Practically nothing is known about the arboviruses that circulate in The Gambia; except for three instances: an outbreak of Yellow Fever over forty years ago, localized antibody evidence of Zika virus, and two one-off cases of Rift Valley fever. Arboviral activity of this unique country is poorly understood. Importantly, there are cases of acute febrile illness in The Gambia that are not attributable to malaria, and we hypothesize that arboviruses are circulating in the region that could be responsible for a proportion of such cases. In addition, there is a paucity of data on local mosquito populations, other than the Anopheline vectors of malaria, and potential vectors of arboviruses. Incrimination of mosquito species responsible for natural arbovirus transmission is pivotal to understanding pathogen dynamics and designing precise vector control strategies. To enhance response to emerging public health threats in The Gambia, the proposed research aims to address gaps in the knowledge of mosquito-borne arboviruses and their vectors by: (a) sampling mosquitoes in The Gambia (utilizing a framework already in place for malaria monitoring, with extended sampling locations) to contrast vector species communities in different landscapes during both the dry and rainy seasons, and to assess arboviral evidence to determine mosquito infection rates across regions; and (b) evaluating vector species diversity and abundance, as well as predictors of the risk of detected mosquito species and arboviruses, considering their prevalence in association with seasonality, macroclimate, and landscape development. Vector and arbovirus presence can, in future, be compared to potential geographic prevalence of human cases. When fever is not caused by malaria, local epidemiology, including a baseline knowledge of what arboviruses and their vectors are circulating in a region, can guide medical decisions. The proposed research is both significant and novel because it addresses the lack of understanding of arbovirus existence in a previously unstudied country, one that is experiencing unexplained cases of acute febrile illness. Although neighboring Senegal has been noted for an arboviral presence, The Gambia has a separate geography, public health system, and political setting, and is unexplored in this respect. Non-malarial febrile illness occurs in The Gambia, and we propose initial steps for investigating arboviruses as potential etiological agents, allowing for improved understanding of infectious disease agents. We aim to generate preliminary data for studies of arboviruses threatening health in The Gambia and, ultimately, facilitating targeted prevention of arboviral pathogens (as well as malaria) and a more streamlined approach to addressing vector-borne disease burden.