Periodic Reporting for period 1 - CLIMOS (Climate Monitoring and Decision Support Framework for Sand Fly-borne Diseases Detection and Mitigation with COst-benefit and Climate-policy MeasureS)
Reporting period: 2022-09-01 to 2024-02-29
Over the last two decades, four successive research consortia (EDEN, EDENext, VBORNET, and VectorNet) aimed at improving knowledge, surveillance, and control of vector-borne diseases in Europe and neighboring countries. Among these, phlebotomine sand fly-borne diseases (SFBDs) including leishmaniasis and phleboviruses represent an important public health and veterinary concern. CLIMOS - Climate Monitoring and Decision Support Framework for Sand Fly-borne Diseases Detection and Mitigation with Cost-benefit and Climate-policy Measures – including 29 partners across 16 countries, aims to complement and build on previous efforts, bringing together researchers (including data, climate and environmental scientists), health-care and veterinary practitioners, technology platform designers and at-risk communities, to conduct innovative and applied research seeking to better prepare for current and future impacts of climate and environmental changes on human and animal health, using sand flies and the diseases they transmit as a model system.
CLIMOS seeks to provide better understanding of climate and environmental drivers of sand fly borne diseases, to reduce model uncertainties for better prognosis of their current and potential spread, and to provide socio-economic and risk assessments for a diversity of stakeholders. CLIMOS outputs will include public access interactive mapping and information services and recommendations for public and animal health, to assist future public (social, environmental, and financial) preparedness.
To achieve this, CLIMOS will undertake vector surveillance and related data collection for analysis and mathematical and numerical climate, environmental and health modelling, to improve public health climate services. To do so, CLIMOS will engage with the public at risk, national stake holders, and veterinary and public health institutions. It will seek to integrate EcoHealth and One Health approaches to produce new markers for animal and human infection risk, to detect and identify disease aetiology diversity across at-risk regions. Outcomes will include climate and environmental models of sand fly and SFBDs incidence and spread, and socioeconomic analysis of the losses and benefits for individuals and society, and SFBDs adaptation measures and EWS with decision support.
Five specific aims are at the core of the CLIMOS project:
1. To develop CLIMOS frameworks for prediction, fast screening, economic assessment, decision support, and sand fly surveillance, based on the ecosystem diversity, stakeholder needs and requirements.
2. To conduct data collection from cross-laboratory field studies in 14 countries, perform qualitative data collection, data analysis, and risk assessments, as inputs to policy-making and communication activities.
3. To develop decision support models for assessment of SFBD-related health and socio-economic vulnerabilities and to provide better quantification of SFBD-related losses, cumulative effects of climate measures, and climate change on SFBDs development and spread.
4. To systematically validate developed models, tools, and surveillance system, in 10 countries, using a proposed general public risk assessment method for policy-relevant useage.
5. To implement a comprehensive scientific and public dissemination policy and outreach programme to communicate project results to a broad audience; to standardize vector and pathogen surveillance sampling and identification; and to maximise big data ontologies.
CLIMOS seeks to provide better understanding of climate and environmental drivers of sand fly borne diseases, to reduce model uncertainties for better prognosis of their current and potential spread, and to provide socio-economic and risk assessments for a diversity of stakeholders. CLIMOS outputs will include public access interactive mapping and information services and recommendations for public and animal health, to assist future public (social, environmental, and financial) preparedness.
To achieve this, CLIMOS will undertake vector surveillance and related data collection for analysis and mathematical and numerical climate, environmental and health modelling, to improve public health climate services. To do so, CLIMOS will engage with the public at risk, national stake holders, and veterinary and public health institutions. It will seek to integrate EcoHealth and One Health approaches to produce new markers for animal and human infection risk, to detect and identify disease aetiology diversity across at-risk regions. Outcomes will include climate and environmental models of sand fly and SFBDs incidence and spread, and socioeconomic analysis of the losses and benefits for individuals and society, and SFBDs adaptation measures and EWS with decision support.
Five specific aims are at the core of the CLIMOS project:
1. To develop CLIMOS frameworks for prediction, fast screening, economic assessment, decision support, and sand fly surveillance, based on the ecosystem diversity, stakeholder needs and requirements.
2. To conduct data collection from cross-laboratory field studies in 14 countries, perform qualitative data collection, data analysis, and risk assessments, as inputs to policy-making and communication activities.
3. To develop decision support models for assessment of SFBD-related health and socio-economic vulnerabilities and to provide better quantification of SFBD-related losses, cumulative effects of climate measures, and climate change on SFBDs development and spread.
4. To systematically validate developed models, tools, and surveillance system, in 10 countries, using a proposed general public risk assessment method for policy-relevant useage.
5. To implement a comprehensive scientific and public dissemination policy and outreach programme to communicate project results to a broad audience; to standardize vector and pathogen surveillance sampling and identification; and to maximise big data ontologies.
During the 2023 sand fly season, extensive data collection across 11 countries utilized CDC light traps and data loggers. Surveys covered 89 sites for sand fly presence, with standardized protocols established for specimen analysis and dog blood sampling in 7 countries. Semiochemical compounds and salivary antigens were developed for surveillance. Infrastructure for data collection, including microclimate devices, was deployed in nine countries, with promising results from semiochemical lure trials and sand fly population quantification algorithms.
Significant milestones were achieved in technical infrastructure and tools development. Workshops with project partners and stakeholders informed the EWS design, resulting in detailed system requirements. An overview of available datasets and methodologies for analysis and modeling was finalized, with an internal structure for data sharing established. Efforts focused on developing statistical, spatial, and temporal mathematical models to validate trapping efficiency and sand fly occurrence relative to climate parameters. Spatial data analysis used Environmental Niche and Species Distribution Modeling, while temporal analysis employed statistical and machine learning methods.
These achievements laid the groundwork for comprehensive system requirements and a cloud-based architecture for the EWS. Modular cloud infrastructure for scalability and interoperability was established. Testing procedures for the EWS and monitoring tools began, alongside the development of a framework for evaluating impacts. These efforts positioned the CLIMOS project to advance its goals of data-driven analysis, modeling, and prediction of sand fly-borne diseases in response to climate change.
Significant milestones were achieved in technical infrastructure and tools development. Workshops with project partners and stakeholders informed the EWS design, resulting in detailed system requirements. An overview of available datasets and methodologies for analysis and modeling was finalized, with an internal structure for data sharing established. Efforts focused on developing statistical, spatial, and temporal mathematical models to validate trapping efficiency and sand fly occurrence relative to climate parameters. Spatial data analysis used Environmental Niche and Species Distribution Modeling, while temporal analysis employed statistical and machine learning methods.
These achievements laid the groundwork for comprehensive system requirements and a cloud-based architecture for the EWS. Modular cloud infrastructure for scalability and interoperability was established. Testing procedures for the EWS and monitoring tools began, alongside the development of a framework for evaluating impacts. These efforts positioned the CLIMOS project to advance its goals of data-driven analysis, modeling, and prediction of sand fly-borne diseases in response to climate change.
CLIMOS has achieved significant milestones, focusing on climate, environment, and health, especially in the early stages of EWS development. The first sand fly monitoring season laid the groundwork for understanding climate determinants of health. Effective communication strategies have expanded CLIMOS' influence within the Climate and Health Cluster, engaging policymakers and regulators through targeted dissemination efforts. Recommendations and scenarios publications have raised public awareness, notably in Serbia. Communication initiatives collaborated with media channels to raise SFBDs awareness. Scientific efforts standardized sand fly monitoring data, revealing 22 sand fly taxa. Phenological data showed adult activity from April to July, with disappearance between September and December. Spatial data collection detected sand fly presence in 38 out of 89 surveyed sites, utilizing a standardized data template for compilation and sharing among project partners.