Ecological Principles of Disease Systems: Population Interactions and Dynamics

Trainer
Gregory Glass, PhD, Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Description
In this presentation, Dr. Glass examines the ecology of infectious diseases and how they affect populations. He also provides examples of how diseases travel in populations.

Trainer
A specialist in zoonotic diseases and disease ecology, Dr. Glass works with the Johns Hopkins School of Public Health's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Immunology. His group is primarily involved in studies of the maintenance and transmission dynamics of infectious diseases, especially zoonotic diseases, and their work includes both laboratory and field research of animal reservoir and arthropod vector populations, as well as epidemiologic studies of affected human populations. Their goal is to better understand the reasons for the persistence and emergence of infectious diseases.

Recent research has focused on rodent-borne viruses (Hantavirus, Lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus), bacteria (Leptospira, Borrelia), and rickettsiae (Ehrlichia), as well as vertebrate host responses to Ixodid tick salivary antigens. In addition to traditional field and laboratory studies, their laboratory has developed a geographic information system (GIS) to study environmental correlates of disease risk. Much of their current focus is on the development of integrated statistical spatial models of disease risk assessment.