Climate Change Impacts on Ticks and Tick-Related Pathogens in Lao PDR

Khamsing Vongphayloth of Institut Pasteur du Laos in Lao PDR will develop a surveillance program for ticks and tick-borne pathogens to model and predict the transmission dynamics of tick-borne diseases. They will perform sampling at two sites in the northern region of Lao PDR suitable to monitor the effects of climate change. Over two years, they will collect ticks and other ectoparasites from host animals as well as free-living ticks, sampling across multiple seasons each year. Ticks will be screened by PCR for two viruses (Severe Fever with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome Virus and tick-borne encephalitis virus) and for spotted fever group rickettsiae, which are intracellular bacteria. Corresponding weather data will be collected along with land use data from direct and satellite observation. This monitoring data will help predict climate-driven changes in the risk of human exposure to tick-borne pathogens and support the development of a country-wide and regional surveillance system.

This grant is funded by the Pasteur Network.