CAYOL, CLAIRE
Postdoctoral researcher @ Pirbright Virology Institute
Bio
Claire Cayol, disease ecologist. The ecology of human and animal pathogens is my main research interest. I was born and raised in Martinique, and I received my veterinary degree from Nantes (France) and my Master's degree in public health from the University of Paris 11/12/ENVA. I subsequently relocated to Finland to pursue a PhD in rodent and tick-borne zoonotic pathogen disease ecology. My first postdoctoral research was in Sweden, where I looked at the link between biodiversity, microbiota, and zoonotic infections in wild animals. I am now a postdoctoral researcher at the Pirbright Virology Institute in England, where I study insect-borne virus transmission processes.
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Panel
Agriculture and epidemiology
Presentation
Infectious and Parasitic Diseases in the Caribbean Islands: Past, Present and Future
Millions of individuals are afflicted by infectious diseases each year, and it is now widely accepted that 70 percent of infectious diseases discovered in humans are transmitted by animals and a large proportion by wild animals. The Caribbean's insular and archipelagic structure, along with the tropical temperature, has provided ideal circumstances for certain micro- and macro-parasites to thrive, infecting humans, animals, or both. I will discuss the history of infectious and parasitic disease in the Caribbean, which was moulded primarily by waves of human migration and completely transformed by the European colonization and the triangular trade. By focusing on my work on rodent-borne infections, I will highlight some elements of the current state of infectious and parasitic diseases in the area. Indeed, commensal rodents introduced to 4 the Caribbean are an important reservoir for pathogens affecting humans. Anthropogenic changes are expected to influence pathogen transmission from reservoir animals to humans by altering transmission rates or exposure levels. I plan to discuss some future research on culicoides-borne pathogens and the influence that insect-borne infections, other than the well-known mosquito-borne pathogens, can have on human health in the area.