A recently released report from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has found that since 2004, the number of people who get diseases from mosquito, tick and flea bites has more than tripled in the U.S., and that nine of these diseases have been discovered or newly introduced in the country. The following Indiana University experts are available to comment on how these insects spread, the diseases they carry and the relationship between pathogens and their hosts.

Keith Clay

Ticks, tick-borne disease, invasive species, environment, movement ecology, microbial symbiosis, disease and host ecology.

IU Bloomington

Phone: (812) 855-8158

Email: [email protected]

Expert Bio

A professor in the Indiana University Bloomington College of Arts and Sciences' Department of Biology, Keith Clay is a leader in the field of biology focused on studying how symbiotic relationships between organisms affect larger-scale ecological and evolutionary processes. (more)

Richard Hardy

Mosquito-transmitted viruses, virus replication, virus transmission.

IU Bloomington

Phone: (812) 856-0652

Email: [email protected]

Expert Bio

Richard Hardy is a professor of biology in the College of Arts and Sciences whose primary research interest is the reaction of mosquito-transmitted viruses in the insect host. (more)

Irene Newton

Wolbachia, honey bees, symbiosis, bacteria, insects, parasites, genomics, evolution of symbionts, vector biology.

IU Bloomington

Phone: (812) 855-3883

Email: [email protected]

Expert Bio

Associate professor Irene Garcia Newton is a microbiologist in the Department of Biology at Indiana University Bloomington, where she conducts research on host-microbe interactions. (more)

Oghenekaro Omodior

Recreation accessibility as a social determinant of health-related quality of life; the role of personal protective behavior in vector-borne emerging infectious disease risk-reduction; applications of geographic information sciences (GIS) in public health, parks, recreation and tourism studies.

IU Bloomington

Phone: (812) 856-7031

Email: [email protected]

Expert Bio

Assistant professor Oghenekaro Omodior's global health research focuses, among other things, on innovations for preventing the transmission of vector-borne emerging infectious diseases associated with travel, tourism and outdoor recreation. (more)

 

 

 

MEDIA CONTACT
Register for reporter access to contact details