School of Infection & Immunity

A consortium involving the School of Infection & Immunity's Dr Emilie Pondeville has been awarded a £1.25million UK Research and Innovation-Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (Defra) grant to fight mosquito-borne disease.

The multi-disciplinary team, including colleagues from the University of Glasgow School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine, UK Health Security Agency, and UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, aims to improve understanding of how climate change could increase the risk of vector-borne disease in Scotland and improve our preparedness.

The three-year programme, funded by UKRI and Defra as part of a £7m research boost to fight vector-borne disease, will be the first of its kind to assess the risk of mosquito-borne pathogen emergence in Scotland under current and future climate change scenarios.

Vector-borne diseases are a major threat to global animal and human health. Causing more than 700,000 deaths each year, they account for more than 17 per cent of all infectious diseases.

While the term ‘vector’ may mean very little to the lay person, these are living organisms, and include fleas, lice, mosquitoes and ticks that many of us will have come across them at one time or another.

Mosquitoes and ticks, in particular, represent a growing threat due to the fact that they are both established and invasive to the UK.

The increased risk can be attributed to a number of different factors, from changes in land use to a changing climate. These environmental changes influence the habitats, geographical distribution, longevity and life cycles of vectors in ways that make disease transmission to people and animals more likely.

By working in partnership with UKHSA, the new UofG-led programme will establish vital and comprehensive surveillance of mosquito vectors and their pathogens, extending UKHSA’s surveillance to Scotland, which is currently focussed on England and Wales.

The programme, funded under UKRI’s ‘One Health Approaches to Vector-Borne Diseases’ initiative, will have a specific focus on risks from zoonotic pathogens that could be introduced from migratory birds, and brings together a multidisciplinary team encompassing expertise in mosquito ecology, vector surveillance, avian ecology, mosquito-transmitted pathogens and ecological and epidemiological modelling.

Through the project, researchers will be conducting surveillance of mosquitoes and screening migratory birds across Scotland for the presence of emerging zoonotic pathogens, including West Nile and Usutu Virus; and results will be used to model the risk of pathogen introduction and transmission. 

BOHVM Professor of Infectious Disease Ecology Heather Ferguson (pictured above, filming a news item for STV), who co-leads the project with our Centre for Virus Research's Dr Pondeville, said: "We are thrilled to be joining forces with UKHSA and all the many partners that will make this possible, to extend surveillance activities to Scotland.

“The importance of examining mosquito vectors and their pathogens, in a world in which the climate is changing, can’t be overstated."

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First published: 4 May 2023