A research project to reduce public health risks from vole pests

    Their results will provide new insights into the genomics, dynamics, and circulation of tularemia in Castilla y León, a notifiable human infectious disease whose main amplification factor is found in vole pests.


    One of the great challenges of society is to solve health problems, among which are those associated with diseases of wildlife, as has become evident with the pandemic generated by COVID-19. In this sense, emerging infectious diseases (EIDs) are a growing burden on public health and the economy globally, and most are zoonotic in nature.

    To improve our understanding of zoonotic outbreaks, we need long-term ecological and epidemiological studies that are empirical and integrative in nature, and as wild animal populations are dynamic, it is essential to take into account variations in abundance to understand how zoonoses are maintained in the environment, their spread and the routes of transmission that ultimately affect people.

    This is the context in which the "R+D+i Project" entitled "BOOMRAT: Population fluctuations of wild rodents and public health: ecology and dynamics of bacterial zoonotic diseases in northwestern Spain”, which will be developed thanks to the “Research Challenges” modality of the State Program for the Generation of Knowledge and Scientific and Technological Strengthening of the R+D+i System and the State Program for R+D+i Oriented to the Challenges of Society, of the State Plan for Scientific and Technical Research and Innovation 2017-2020.

     

    peasant vole (Microtus arvalis).

    Many rodents act as hyper-reservoirs of zoonoses, and some species are characterized by experiencing explosive fluctuations in abundance (dynamics «boom bust"), becoming agricultural pests and disease spreaders. The study of zoonoses linked to fluctuating populations of rodents requires a dynamic approach that assesses "who" participates in the transmission cycles, "how" the pathogen is transmitted to humans, and "why" these aspects vary in space and time. time.

    Thus, this project will focus on Francisella tularensis, the etiological agent of tularemia, a notifiable human infectious disease (EDO) that recurrently affects northwestern Spain (Castilla y León), with more than 1,500 official cases reported in humans to date. The project will last 3 years and will be led by the researchers Juan Jose Luque-Larena, from the Higher Technical School of Agricultural Engineering of the University of Valladolid, and François Mougeot, the Research Group in Game Resources and Wildlife Management of the Instituto de Investigación en Recursos Cinegéticos (IREC – CSIC, UCLM, JCCM).

    Researchers from the Carlos III Health Institute, the University of Córdoba, the Complutense University of Madrid, the National Institute of Health Dr. Ricardo Jorge (Portugal), the University of Aberdeen (United Kingdom) and the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (Israel).

    The populations of peasant vole (Microtus arvalis) are the main factor of amplification of F. tularensis in the agricultural areas of Castilla y León, so the main objective of the project consists of link density-dependent amplification of disease in vole populations and environmental contamination ultimately leading to outbreaks of human tularemia.

    For this, it will be necessary to clarify the nature of the epidemiological relationship between F. tularensis y m.arvalis, evaluate the hypothesis that recurrent tularemia epidemics are the result of periodic concatenation of “disease jumps” between species driven by vole dynamics, and elucidate the role played by other animal species (lagomorphs, predators, blood-sucking arthropods) in the circulation and dissemination of F. tularensis. Thus, the results of this project will provide new insights into the genomics, dynamics and circulation, at short and long range, of F. tularensis subs. holarctic and other bacterial zoonoses in northwestern Spain.

    This research project includes a scholarship for the training of research personnel (FPI) for which the application evaluation period is now open. Those interested in applying for the scholarship can contact Dr. François Mougeot by e-mail (francois.mougeot@uclm.es), attaching the CV and a cover letter.