2023 Workshop: State College, PA
Overview
The inaugural RBZD Workshop was hosted by the Center for Infectious Disease Dynamics (CIDD). The primary goal was to bring together experts to examine commonalities across disease systems and write a synthesis paper on rodent-borne zoonotic spillover.
- Dates: 10 – 13 April 2023
- Venue: Millennium Science Complex, The Pennsylvania State University, State College, PA, USA
Organising Committee
- Dr. Sagan Friant (Penn State University)
- Christina Harden (Penn State University)
- Prof. Ottar Bjørnstad (Penn State University)
- Kareen Atekem (Penn State University)
Scientific Programme
Day 1: Human Dimensions of RBZD
- Keynote: Emerging Rodent Zoonosis: Insights from Community Ecology, Scaling, & Beyond – Prof. Andy Dobson (Princeton University)
- Session 1: Rodent-borne zoonotic disease systems and perspectives speed dating
- Session 2: Macroecological Risk Factors – Leads: D. Redding, R. Gibb, N. Imirizian
- Session 3: Intersections of disease ecology, anthropology and communication – Leads: R. Smith, S. Friant, L. Moses
- Session 4: Human drivers of rodent ecology and evolution, disease dynamics, and spillover – Leads: S. Friant, G. Perry, L. Moses, C. Harden, N. Grube
Day 2: Interfaces
- Keynote: Ecology of Lassa fever in West Africa: spatial, temporal and human risks – Prof. Elisabeth Fichet-Calvet (Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine)
- Session 5: Rodent population dynamics, fluctuations, life history effects on spillover risk – Leads: H. Henttonen, J. Mistrick, K. Vandegrift
- Session 6: Community Ecology Effects – Leads: P. Hudson, A. Luis, D. Simons
Day 3: Integration
- Huddle: Integrative Framework for RBZD research and control
- Working Groups: Breakout sessions and writing exercises focused on synthesising the primary manuscript.
- Keynote: The ecology of plague: a disease of today which changed our history – Prof. Nils Chr. Stenseth (University of Oslo)
Outputs
The primary output of the inaugural workshop was the consensus paper: Reducing the threats of rodent-borne zoonoses requires an understanding and leveraging of three key pillars: disease ecology, synanthropy, and rodentation (Lancet Planetary Health, 2025).
