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Prepare4VBD Symposium at EMOP, Poland!
September 2024
Recently, representatives from UCPH-Denmark and UNINA-Italy showcased the Prepare4VBD project at the European Multicolloquium of Parasitology, held in Wroclaw, Poland, late August. During a dedicated symposium session titled “Parasites and Vectors in a Warming World: Predicting and Preparing for Future Scenarios,” several members of the Prepare4VBD team, including Project Coordinator Anna-Sofie Stensgaard along with Mita Eva Sengupta, Jennifer Upfold, Tiem Van der Deure and Maria Paola Maurelli (UNINA)—delivered insightful presentations.
The talks introduced the audience to the overarching objectives of Prepare4VBD, emphasizing the importance of creating broad, interdisciplinary knowledge that transcends specific vector-borne diseases, organisms, and disciplines. This was followed by presentations on emerging scientific findings, which are rapidly being produced as the project enters its final period. The presentations covered a diverse range of topics, from molecular-based work such as environmental DNA monitoring of vector snails and Fasciola flukes, to large-scale (continent-wide) studies on the impact of heat stress on the immune defenses and life-history traits of the Fasciola vector snail. Other topics included a survey study of Fasciola hepatica and Lymnaeidae host snails in southern Italy, as well as risk map modeling that combined vector snail habitat suitability and parasite infection models to map the risk of Fasciola gigantica in Africa under current and future climates. The symposium served as an excellent platform to share these results, sparking engaging discussions and highlighting the urgent need for further research on vectors, their diseases, and the impact of climate change on vector-borne illnesses.
In the picture: Top left, Anna-Sofie Stensgaard presenting about PREPARE4VBD; bottom left, Mita Eva Sengupta presenting one of her three talks of the session; middle PREPARE4VBD representatives from UCPH; top right, Tiem Van der Deure presenting Fasciola gigantica in Africa risk maps; middle right, Jennifer Upfold presenting on the impact of heat stress on snail vector immune response and life history strategies; bottom right, some new connections made at the conference!