Among the most important consequences of climate change are alterations in patterns of pathogen transmission. Arboviruses and invertebrate vectors are particularly sensitive to the effects of temperature and therefore studies assessing the effects of temperature on viral and mosquito fitness are a focus of the Wadsworth Center Arbovirus laboratory.

Current areas of interest include quantifying species and population-specific effects of temperature on West Nile virus transmission in Culex mosquitoes and assessing the capacity for mosquito and virus populations to adapt to rising temperatures. Experimental data are combined with surveillance and climate data to inform novel predictive transmission models. The overarching goal of these studies is to gain insight into how changing climates alter arbovirus risk and ultimately use these data to inform public health measures.

New York State is a major focus of tick-borne pathogens. The etiologic agents responsible for Lyme disease, Anaplasmosis, Babesiosis, and Powassan encephalitis are transmitted by Ixodes scapularis (black-legged or “deer” ticks). The ticks and pathogens they transmit are expanding north- and west-ward from the original epicenter of the lower Hudson River Valley. Recently, Amblyomma americanum (lone-star) ticks have been expanding their range from the southeastern and midwestern United States and into Long Island and southern NYS. This tick is capable of transmitting the agent responsible for Ehrlichiosis as well as Heartland and Bourbon Viruses.

The Arbovirus Laboratory has partnered with the Bureau of Communicable Disease Control to establish a surveillance and research program to understand the geographic distribution of Powassan (Deer Tick virus, DTV), Heartland, and Bourbon viruses in NYS by testing ticks collected in the spring and fall each year and testing vertebrate sera for the presence of antibody. The laboratory has documented DTV throughout the Hudson River Valley, determined co-infection rates of DTV and bacterial pathogens in adult and nymphal ticks collected in Dutchess and Putnam Counties, and has led to the discovery of novel viral agents in ticks collected across NYS. In 2018 and 2019 respectively, the laboratory documented Heartland and Bourbon viruses in ticks collected on Long Island, NY, representing the first time these pathogens have been isolated outside the known endemic areas of the Midwest. The Arbovirus Laboratory’s tick research and surveillance component complements our proficient mosquito-borne virus program.