Impact of climate change on zoonotic vector-borne diseases and their potential transmission increase and introduction risk: An innovative approach with a selected disease model

Project Information

FascioClim

Grant agreement ID: 101062347

DOI

10.3030/101062347

Project closed

EC signature date 21 October 2022

Start date 1 November 2022

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA)

Total cost

No data

EU contribution

€ 181 152,96

Coordinated by

UNIVERSITAT DE VALENCIA
Spain

Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FascioClim (Impact of climate change on zoonotic vector-borne diseases and their potential transmission increase and introduction risk: An innovative approach with a selected disease model)

Reporting period: 2022-11-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) pose a major threat to the health of societies around the world, with more than 80% of the global population at risk of at least one major VBD. VBDs are particularly susceptible to the effects of climate change, which will affect the distribution of vectors, the spatial and temporal patterns of the diseases vectors transmit, as well as the efficiency and intensity with which vectors transmit pathogens. A climate-driven phenomenon of outbreaks of VBDs, many of them zoonotic, is occurring worldwide, and Europe is not the exception. In this complex scenario, as climate change accelerates, globalization spreads vectors and pathogens, and other human-caused disturbances increase, it is urgent to assess and predict impacts on disease transmission.

FascioClim was not conceived as a stand-alone research proposal, but as the beginning of an entire research line aiming to assess the response of zoonotic VBDs to climate change and the potential threat it entails to Europe by using fascioliasis as a selected model. Fascioliasis, a complex zoonotic snail-borne disease, represents an ideal model as it has a low reservoir specificity, a high number of snail host species, and has already evinced being influenced by climate and global changes. We propose an integrative modeling framework for fascioliasis transmission: we will apply some innovative ideas in the field of ecological niche modeling combined with the use of climatic forecast indices, to identify the overlap between niches of fasciolids and snail hosts, and determine the area under risk of transmission. In addition, we will provide open-source tools accessible to the health sector. We expect this innovative ensemble of modeling approaches could be applied for assessing climate change impact on other zoonotic VBDs (in particular schistosomiasis, other snail-borne disease, but also mosquito- and tick-borne diseases, such as West Nile fever, Dengue, Zika, and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever), in order to provide tools to guide interventions aimed to reduce and/or mitigate the disease burden in Europe. A parallel goal of this MSCA Individual Fellowship has been to foster the development of the individual researcher (that’s me!) in order to accomplish a more permanent integration in the European Research Area by consolidating a teaching/research position at a leading Spanish institution.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

Work was conducted via 5 work packages (WPs). WP1 consisted of joint activities with the supervisor, related with project management and analysis of progress. WP2 consisted of research activities related with the ecological niche modeling of lymnaeids and fasciolids (Objectives O1 and O3). In it, a comprehensive database on the global occurrences of lymnaeids and fasciolids is still on the build, 1 Open Access peer-reviewed journal publication and 1 conference communication has been published. Further, at least 2 journal manuscripts are underway. WP3 comprised research activities directed towards the use of climatic indices to forecast fascioliasis transmission (Objectives O2 and O3). So far, it has yielded 2 international conference communications, 1 international conference oral communication and 5 Open Access peer-reviewed published journal articles. In WP4, related with O3 and meant to analyze the introduction in Europe of alien snail hosts, at least 2 journal manuscripts are being developed. In WP5, results were included in regular technical reports from the “WHO Collaborating Centre on Fascioliasis and Its Snail Vectors” and the “FAO-United Nations Reference Centre for Parasitology” (both reference centers adscripted to my hosting group). In WP6, towards dissemination and exploitation, the Fellow delivered theoretical and practical classes to undergraduate students in the Department of Parasitology (Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, UVEG), and contributed with teaching in UVEG’s Master’s Degree in Tropical Parasitic Diseases. He has participated in the organization and teaching of two national workshops on vector-borne disease for scientists/peers, postdocs, pre- and postgraduate students. Further, he provided supervision and mentoring for early career researchers, and supervised four final graduation projects, two master thesis and one doctoral thesis.

This MSCA allowed the Fellow to foster a number of valuable transferable skills related to research management and funding, science communication and teaching. His involvement in teaching activities at various levels, through workshops and formal classes to undergraduate and postgraduate students, provided him with the opportunity to share his knowledge and experience and, hopefully, to spark interest and curiosity among the participants about the subject and in pursuing a research path. During the grant, the Fellow obtained the Master's Degree in Tropical Parasitic Diseases (Faculty of Pharmacy and Food Sciences, UVEG), is about to present a second doctoral thesis (UVEG's PhD in Human and Animal Parasitology) and has secured a “Ramón y Cajal” fellowship (Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities), which represents a 5-year contract as consolidated researcher, followed by the stabilization in a permanent position in the host institution (in this case, the UVEG). Moreover, he obtained the C1 level certificate of Valencian/Catalan language, as it is mandatory to consolidate a teaching/research position in a university of the Valencian Community.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

This MSCA has helped to push the frontiers of knowledge on fascioliasis, and snail-borne diseases, forward in a numerous ways. Three published Open Access peer-reviewed journal articles have unveiled the emergence and expansion of human fascioliasis in southern and southeastern Asia. The magnitude of the human fascioliasis outbreak in Vietnam (53,000 fascioliasis patients along the 1995-2019 period) and the uprise in the number of human fascioliasis case reports in India, represent an unavoidable health wake-up for southern and southeastern Asian countries which present the highest human population densities. Other two published Open Access peer-reviewed journal articles the Fellow spearheaded have shed new light onto the impact of climate change on the transmission of snail-borne diseases, and of fascioliasis in particular. Both, the high-altitude expansion of the human fascioliasis hyperendemic region in the Bolivian Altiplano and the southern spread of animal fascioliasis into the austral extremity of the Patagonia region in southern South America, were demonstrated to be related with the temperature-enhancement of the life cycle of Fasciola hepatica. Those are the first studies linking the consequences of a changing climate with the spread of fascioliasis to extreme altitudes and latitudes. Both studies warn about how the distribution and transmission of snail-borne diseases may be modified due to influences of climate change in other world regions in the immediate future. Further, an additional Open Access peer-reviewed scientific article demonstrated the heterogenous influence of climate over fascioliasis transmission in the a priori homogenous landscape of the human fascioliasis hyperendemic area of the Bolivian Altiplano, highlighting the complexity of climate change and the importance of considering physiographical features when analyzing its impact. All these results have been submitted as technical reports from the “WHO Collaborating Centre on Fascioliasis and Its Snail Vectors” and the “FAO-United Nations Reference Centre for Parasitology” (both reference centers adscripted to my hosting group), which are meant to be used as required by the WHO’s and FAO’s agendas activities and disseminated to WHO’s pertinent Working Groups, health sector and governmental agencies of the countries involved, to contribute with the “WHO’s Roadmap on NTDs” and ensure that populations at risk benefit from this MSCA.

The impacts anticipated from the MSCA are expected to be increased and improved, as a number of scientific publications are still under development. Furthermore, FascioClim has been the starting point of an independent research line boosted by this MSCA fellowship, which will be continued by the Fellow during the following years through the implementation of the prestigious "Ramón y Cajal" grant he has recently secured.