Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Changes in the Mediterranean Wetlands
Abstract:
During the last decades, the emergence of numerous infectious diseases such as SARS and AIDS has raised awareness of the close links that exist between animal health, human health and ecosystem health. Many of the emerging pathogens have a zoonotic origin (i.e. they originally circulated among animal populations). The health risks associated with the emergence of these diseases are progressing under the influence of global changes that affect ecosystems and contacts between hosts. The prevention and control of emerging infectious diseases require an in-depth understanding of their dynamics in all the compartments in which they occur.
The aim of the present work is to improve our understanding of these phenomena within the context of Mediterranean wetlands by focusing on two emerging pathogens: Influenza A viruses (IAV) and West Nile virus. The thesis is structured around three research axes:
Using epidemiological surveillance of wild birds to investigate the circulation of West Nile virus in the Mediterranean Basin;
Exploring IAV dynamics in the different compartments in which they circulate and at their interface;
Determining the role of environmental conditions in IAV dynamics, especially within human populations.
Our results highlight the value of long-term interdisciplinary studies for the understanding of the epidemiology of emerging diseases. They also emphasize the role of human activities and environmental conditions in the dynamics of these diseases. Our studies open up perspectives for combining emerging disease risk management and the management of ecosystems and populations. They also argue in favour of further developing this type of approach in order to meet the challenge of emerging pathogen prevention and control.
Full bibliographical reference:
VITTECOQ M., 2012. Maladies infectieuses émergentes au sein des zones humides méditerranéennes dans le contexte des changements globaux (Emerging Infectious Diseases and Global Changes in the Mediterranean Wetlands). Thesis : Evolutionnary Biology and Ecology, Montpellier 2 University (FRA), 284 p.