Preparation of the Atlas of Zoonotic Infections in Georgia (Caucasus)
Project Status: 3 Approved without Funding
Duration in months: 24 months
Objective
The proposed work is an approach to modernize national surveillance and to identify areas at risk for diverse zoonotic pathogens in Georgia. Zoonotic pathogens, their arthropod vectors, and vertebrate reservoirs are inevitable part of natural environment and the distribution of these pathogens is determined by various ecological factors. The main goal of the proposed project is identification and illustration of geographic, ecological, anthropological, and social factors that act as drivers for emergence, re-emergence, and persistence of pathogens in nature communicable to man. Medical geography of zoonoses can provide useful tools for analyzing spatially referenced data on distribution of animal hosts, arthropod vectors, and infectious agents, and their spatial concordance with environmental and social parameters. Animal movement caused by trading and marketing livestock represents an especially critical aspect in dissemination of zoonotic diseases. The Atlas will contain a series of maps presenting data on landscape, climate, vegetation, fauna, demographic patterns, social factors affecting interface between animals and people, data of detection and identification of zoonotic agents in natural habitats, and incidence of human disease morbidity across Georgia. The Atlas will illustrate a regional heterogeneity in distribution of the infections in the relation to the highly mosaic physical and cultural landscape typical for southern Caucasus. The Atlas is expected to identify areas where zoonotic diseases might occur, but human cases have not yet been recognized and will be used to better target limited surveillance and prevention resources. It is expected that the Atlas of Zoonotic Infections in Georgia will be published in two languages, Georgian and English. It is believed that successful completion of the project will provide 1) novel methodology for identifying areas at risk for diverse zoonotic diseases, 2) enhanced surveillance to identify, confirm, and report cases of such diseases in human and animal populations, and 3) tools for modernized forecast of emerging infections found in nature on regional and global scales.
Participating Institutions
PARTICIPATING
I. Javakhishvili Tbilisi State University (TSU)
COLLABORATOR
University of Florida
COLLABORATOR
Institut des Sciences de l'Evolution / Universite Montpellier II
LEADING
National Center for Disease Control and Public Health (NCDC)
