Environmental Risk Factors which Affect the Transmission of
West Nile Virus to Human Populations

By Dr. Spielman, Ph.D.

and

SRA-NE Business Meeting

Wednesday, April 9, 2003

4:05-4:30 PM Social gathering, light snacks
4:30-6:30 PM Program

Conference Room, CDM
One Cambridge Place, 50 Hampshire Street,
Cambridge, MA

Environmental Risk Factors which Affect the Transmission of West Nile Virus to Human Populations

By Dr. Spielman, Ph.D. Professor of Tropical Public Health,
Harvard School of Public Health and
Center for International Development

Summary: West Nile virus is transmitted to humans by the mosquito species commonly found in New England. Urban as well as rural areas have many sites that can be breeding places for the mosquito and birds that are also hosts for the virus. Dr. Spielman will discuss the role of vectors, hosts, and how environmental factors affect the epidemiology of viral diseases.

Biography: After receiving a doctorate from the School of Hygiene and Public Health, Johns Hopkins University, Dr. Spielman has had a distinguished career in the epidemiology of arthropod-borne viral diseases. He has established many of the fundamental features in the natural history of West Nile fever and of Lyme disease, and has conducted research on defense against other biological pathogens, such as tularemia and eastern equine encephalitis, which could be used in biological warfare.

Dr. Spielman has been a member of the faculty at the school of Public Health and Center for International Development at Harvard University since 1959 and is currently Professor of Tropical Public Health there. Dr. Spielman is also a consultant on vector-borne infectious agents with the Massachusetts State Institute of Laboratories.

He has received numerous honors from colleagues as well as from institutions. They include the Medal of Honor from the American Mosquito Control Association, the Merit Award from the National Institutes of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and awards for the best medical film of 1992 from both the American Film Institute and the European Film Institute; he is also the 2002 President-Elect of the Society of Vector Ecology.

He has recently published a book (Spielman, A., D'Antonio, M. 2001. Mosquito: a natural history of our most persistent and deadly foe. Hyperion: New York) that is informative for both the general public and scientists; it has been very successful and is now in a paper-back version. Some other recent (2001) scientific publications are listed below for reference:

Wolfe ND, Kilbourne AM, Karesh WB, Rahman HA, Bosi EJ, Cropp BC, Andau M, Spielman A, and Gubler DJ. 2001. Sylvatic transmission of arboviruses among Bornean Orangutans. Am J Trop Med & Hyg. 64:310-316.

Yi-ebiyo YY, Pollack RJ, and Spielman A. 2001. Enhanced development in nature of larval Anopheles arabiensis mosquitoes feeding on maize pollen. Am J Trop Med & Hyg. 63:90-93

Spielman A, Beier JC, and Kiszewski AE. Oversight requirements for deploying transgenic vector arthropods. in Letourneau D and B Burrows (eds.) Genetically Engineered Organisms: Assessing Environmental and Human Health Effects. CRC Press

Spielman A, Pollack R, Kiszewski A, and Telford S. 2001. Issues in Public Health Entomology. Vect. Zoon. Dis. 1:3-19.
Ebel, GD, Spielman A, and Telford SR. 2001. Phylogeny of North American Powassan virus. J Gen Virol. 82: 1657-1665.

Thompson C, Spielman A, and Krause P. 2001. Coinfecting Deer-Associated Zoonoses: Lyme Disease, Babesiosis, and ehrlichiosis. CID 33: 676-682.

Spielman A, 2001. Structure and Seasonality of Nearctic Culex pipiens populations. Ann NY Acad Sci. 957: 220-234.

SRA-NE Business Meeting

(5:30 p.m. after Dr. Spielman's talk)

AGENDA

• Officers' reports
• Report on questionnaire results
• Report on meeting at Clark University
• Nominations for officers in 2004-2005
• Type of meetings for future
• Organizational guidelines
  

Other items can be added if needed. Please let the Secretary know by April 8th.