Spatial epidemiology studies the effect of spatial factors on the emergence, spread, persistence and evolution of diseases and invasive species. The understanding of key spatial factors, such as environmental or anthropogenic variables, and their integration into spatial models is used to predict the geographical distribution of risk, which can contribute to better targetted prevention, surveillance and control measures. We also work toward the improvement of methods in spatial modelling and landscape phylogeography, and of large-scale data sets on farm animals.
New study on the dispersal and human-fish host switching history of Streptococcus agalactiae ST283
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...
New publication in Nature: projected decline in European bumblebee populations in the 21st century
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...
Spatially-explicit phylogeographic analyses can be used to introduce phylogenetic trees in a geographic context. Over the last years, we started exploiting such spatially-annotated trees to investigate the impact on environmental factors on the dispersal history and dynamic of viral lineages (dispersal velocity, dispersal direction and dispersal frequency). Furthermore, we also aim to use phylogeographic reconstruction to assess hypothetical intervention strategies in the context of viral epidemics.
See moreOur research mainly deal with the spatial epidemiology of avian influenza (AI) at different spatial scales, with particular emphasis on on the role of agro-ecological factors on the emergence, spread and persistence of AI viruses. Over the years, we have also been involved in research on other important livestock diseases such as bluetongue, bovine tuberculosis, foot and mouth disease, porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome, and Nipah virus infections. In addition, we also have research projects to better map the distribution of livestock production at a global scale.
See moreInvading organisms spreading though a heterogeneous landscape are difficult to study using conventional statistical models. We aim to develop new methodology to study those type of data, to review existing methods, and to compare all methods in their capacity to detect the influence of landscape heterogeneity on the pattern of spread.
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