Monitoring Silent Spillovers Before Emergence: A Pilot Study at the Tick/Human Interface in Thailand.

Emerging zoonoses caused by previously unknown agents are one of the most important challenges for human health because of their inherent inability to be predictable, conversely to emergences caused by previously known agents that could be targeted by routine surveillance programs. Emerging zoonotic infections either originate from increasing contacts between wildlife and human populations, or from the geographical expansion of hematophagous arthropods that act as vectors, this latter being more capable to impact large-scale human populations. While characterizing the viral communities from candidate vectors in high-risk geographical areas is a necessary initial step, the need to identify which viruses are able to spill over and those restricted to their hosts has recently emerged.

Babesia Occurrence in Rodents in Relation to Landscapes of Mainland Southeast Asia.

The purpose of this study is to investigate the relationships between habitat structure and Babesia spp. occurrence in rodents in mainland Southeast Asia. Of 1439 rodents and insectivores investigated, the protist Babesia was found in only 81 individuals (5.