On March 19 2024 by Jean-Claude Grégoire
In 2018, for the first time in the British history, reproducing populations of the spruce bark beetle Ips typographus, the most damaging pest in Europe, were found in Kent, in southern England. Our study, carried out with Forest Research in Britain, relied on networks of pheromone traps deployed from an outbreak hotspot in the French and Belgian Ardenne to the English coast. We show that, contrary to the hypothesis that the pest entered Britain with infested wood, the insects managed to fly over the English Channel. Read more...
On February 13 2024 by Diana Erazo & Simon Dellicour
Our new study on the contribution of climate change to the spatial expansion of West Nile virus in Europe has been published in Nature Communications. West Nile virus (WNV) is an emerging mosquito-borne pathogen in Europe where it represents a new public health threat. While climate change has been cited as a potential driver of its spatial expansion on the continent, a formal evaluation of this causal relationship is lacking. Here, we investigate the extent to which WNV spatial expansion in Europe can be attributed to climate change while accounting for other direct human influences such as land use and human population changes. Read more...
On October 04 2023 by Dan Schar and Simon Dellicour
Fish consumption-associated outbreaks of Streptococcus agalactiae (group B Streptococcus; GBS) sequence type (ST) 283 in Asia have drawn attention to GBS ST283 as an emerging foodborne pathogen capable of generating disease in the general population. To inform public health interventions, researchers gathered 328 whole genome sequences collected from humans and fish between 1998 and 2021 across eleven countries spanning four continents, applying Bayesian modeling to reconstruct the evolutionary history of ST283, host transitions and geographic dispersal. Read more...
On September 11 2023 by Simon Dellicour
Our new study on the projected decline in European bumblebee populations has been published in Nature. Habitat degradation and climate change are globally acting as pivotal drivers of wildlife collapse, with mounting evidence that this erosion of biodiversity will accelerate in the following decades. In this study, we quantified the past, present, and future ecological suitability of Europe for bumblebees, a threatened group of pollinators ranked among the highest contributors to crop production value in the northern hemisphere. Read more...
On August 17 2023 by Simon Dellicour
Our new study on the rabies virus circulation in Cambodia has been published in Molecular Ecology. In epidemiology, endemicity characterises sustained pathogen circulation in a geographical area, which involves a circulation that is not being maintained by external introductions. Because it could potentially shape the design of public health interventions, there is an interest in fully uncovering the endemic pattern of a disease. Here, we use a phylogeographic approach to investigate the endemic signature of rabies virus (RABV) circulation in Cambodia. Read more...
On June 08 2023 by Simon Dellicour
An episode of the Z-Science broadcast has recently been dedicated to the research activities conducted at the Spatial Epidemiology Lab. Aired on June 7, 2023, this episode can be viewed in full here (in French).
On May 22 2023 by Simon Dellicour
Our new study on post-vaccination nursing home COVID-19 outbreaks has been published in Nature Aging. Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination has resulted in excellent protection against fatal disease, including in older adults. However, risk factors for post-vaccination fatal COVID-19 are largely unknown. In the new study, we comprehensively analysed three large nursing home outbreaks (20–35% fatal cases among residents) by combining severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) aerosol monitoring, whole-genome phylogenetic analysis and immunovirological profiling of nasal mucosa by digital nCounter transcriptomics. Read more...
On May 15 2023 by Simon Dellicour
Our new study on the introduction and dispersal dynamics of introduction of SARS-CoV-2 variants in New York City has been published in PLoS Pathogens. Since the latter part of 2020, SARS-CoV-2 evolution has been characterised by the emergence of viral variants associated with distinct biological characteristics. While the main research focus has centred on the ability of new variants to increase in frequency and impact the effective reproductive number of the virus, less attention has been placed on their relative ability to establish transmission chains and to spread through a geographic area. Read more...
On April 11 2023 by Simon Dellicour
Powassan virus is an emerging tick-borne virus of concern for public health, but very little is known about its transmission patterns and ecology. In our recent study performed in collaboration with the Grubaugh Lab just published in PNAS, we expanded the genomic dataset by sequencing 279 Powassan viruses isolated from Ixodes scapularis ticks from the northeastern United States. Our phylogeographic reconstructions revealed that Powassan virus lineage II was likely introduced or emerged from a relict population in the Northeast between 1940-1975. Read more...
On January 23 2023 by Simon Dellicour
The high economic impact and zoonotic potential of avian influenza call for detailed investigations of dispersal dynamics of epidemics. We integrated phylogeographic and epidemiologic analyses to investigate the dynamics of an H3N1 low pathogenic avian influenza epidemic that occurred in Belgium during 2019. Virus genomes from 104 clinical samples originating from 85% of affected farms were sequenced. A spatially-explicit phylogeographic analysis confirmed a dominating northeast to southwest dispersal direction and a long-distance dispersal event linked to direct live animal transportation between farms. Read more...