During the second project period much focus has been on been focusing on further establishing and continue running the activities in the Case Study Areas (CSAs; WP3, WP5), which are key to further work in WP4-8.
BEPREP has published two Newsletters and one Policy Brief. Outreach now also via the BEPREP LinkedIn account. Coordinator’s info letter as additional tool for internal communication.
Methodological development for projection and mapping of disease risk scenarios in the CSAs is complete. Related datasets are being analysed to prepare data pipelines and further validate methods.
A central part of BEPREP are our CSAs where we study the causal mechanisms of infection dynamics and of drivers along the infect-shed-spill-spread cascade with a BACI (before-after-control-impact) approach. The CSAs are located in Europe and the tropics and they comprise riparian forests, rural areas including terrestrial forests and urban areas. Using Standard Operation Procedures (SOPs) to guarantee standardized sampling and sample handling, field sampling in all 13 CSAs has so far generated 5,500 rodent specimens, > 1,400 samples from bat specimens, > 60,000 mosquitoes, >3,000 ticks, > 600 water samples, and > 1,500 soil samples. The activities in the CSAs are done in close cooperation with local and regional stakeholders.
Development of One Health-based adaptive ecosystem restoration approach that implements key considerations to minimize zoonotic disease risk that otherwise might emerge from restorations.
The data extracted for the meta-analysis on the effect of ecosystem restoration on disease risk are the first of its kind compiled at a global scale (339 unique scientific studies that collectively contribute 201,726 individual records).
Pathogen testing based on CSA samples is ongoing with detection of multiple of BEPREP’s target pathogens in reservoirs, especially rodents, ectoparasites, water, and soil. Identified pathogens so far include Yersinia pseudotuberculosis, Orthohantavirus puumalaense, Bartonella spp., Bartonella grahamii, Leptospira spp., Neoehrlichia mikurensis, and Borrelia spp. in Clethrionomys glareolus, Cryptosporidium spp., Escherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Francisella spp. in water, Klebsiella pneumoniae in Castor fiber, Bartonella spp., Bartonella grahamii, Bartonella elizabethae, Leptospira spp., Neoehrlichia mikurensis, Streptobacillus sp., Mycoplasma penetrans, Borrelia spp., and Ehrlichia sp. in Apodemus sylvaticus, Yersinia pestis in Rattus rattus, Leptospira spp. in multiple species in Malaysia, as well as West Nile virus lineage 2, Usutu virus and Falli virus in mosquitoes in Italy.
BEPREP has identified stakeholder engagement as a crucial success factor of ecosystem restoration already at the planning stage of restoration projects. As primary results, BEPREP can observe adherence to participation in the project by the residents, together with better circulation of information on health, diseases and environmental preservation. BEPREP has identified factors – such as knowing/liking the research team and simple things like providing snacks during the meetings – as factors that increase the chance of adhering to the project. Lack of participation was associated with disinterest and individualist views. BEPREP has also observed higher frequency of reservoir species in control areas.
Driver modelling on human hantavirus infection, TBE, and leptospirosis, and mosquito-borne disease risk in relation to degrees of disturbance of tropical and subtropical costal-habitats such as mangrove. One paper published on environmental driven northward expansion pace of mosquito-borne diseases in Europe.
Development of BEPREP Data Sharing and Publication Ethics.
