Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases

About the Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases Program

A joint NSF, National Institutes of Health, and U.S. Department of Agriculture program, Ecology and Evolution of Infectious Diseases (EEID) supports efforts to understand the underlying ecological and biological mechanisms behind human-induced environmental changes, and the emergence and transmission of infectious diseases.

Projects funded through the EEID program allow scientists to study how large-scale environmental events -- such as habitat destruction, invasions of non-native species and pollution -- alter the risks of viral, parasitic and bacterial diseases in humans and other animals.

EEID Discoveries

Part 1: Cool Cat in a Hot Zone
Urban bobcats pick up diseases from humans, not the reverse

Part 2: Snails in the Waters, Disease in the Villages
Treatment for snail-borne schistosomiasis works best over the long haul

Part 3: Underwater Whodunit: What's Killing Florida's Elkhorn Coral?
Scientists solve Caribbean coral mystery: human pathogens cause marine invertebrate deaths

Part 4: "Defective" Virus Leads to Epidemic of Dengue Fever
Virus may have led to widespread disease in Myanmar in 2001

Part 5: Sick Sea Fans: Undersea "Doctors" to the Rescue
Scientists discover genes involved in immunity of sea fans to coral diseases

Part 6: California's iconic redwoods in danger from fire and infectious disease
Pathogen that causes sudden oak death leaves redwoods vulnerable to fire

Part 7: Tasmanian devils: Will rare infectious cancer lead to their extinction?
Cartoon character's real-life counterpart may offer clues to human and other animal diseases

Part 8: Lyme Disease: Ten things you always wanted to know about ticks...
...but maybe were afraid to ask...

Part 9: Summer brings crab feasts--and concerns for Chesapeake blue crabs
Infectious diseases play a part in crab population declines

Part 10: Halting the spread of Ebola: Nigeria a model for quick action, scientists find
Rapid control measures critical to stopping the virus in its tracks

Part 11: "Microbiome" of Sierra Nevada yellow-legged frogs shifts during infectious disease outbreaks
Interaction between microbiome and infectious pathogens may drive disease

Part 12: Virus fingered as top suspect in West Coast sea star wasting disease
Deadly culprit identified as type of parvovirus

Part 13: Ebola, Dengue fever, Lyme disease: The growing economic cost of infectious diseases
Five new such diseases expected each year; strategies to reduce climate change adaptable to infectious diseases

Part 14: Field fever, harvest fever, rat catcher's yellows: Leptospirosis by any name is a serious disease
Infection is more prevalent in lower-income tropical areas

Part 15: Hibernation season over, will disease-ridden bats emerge from caves and mines this spring?
White Nose Syndrome now infects bats in several northeastern U.S. states

Part 16: Trees turned to snags: 'Sudden Oak Death' fells California oaks in their prime
Citizen scientists assist with research on infectious plant disease

Part 17: Feeding birds in your local park? If they're white ibises in Florida, think twice
White ibises may transmit diseases like salmonellosis

Part 18: Seeking Zika: Where and when will Zika-carrying mosquitoes strike next?
NSF-funded scientists look for answers in coastal Ecuador

Part 19: Rabies could spread to Peru's coast by 2020
Male vampire bats the likely culprits in transmitting the virus

Part 20: Infectious disease transmission in fish, mammals, other animals has implications for humans
Researchers looked at how animals interact with each other in 43 individual species

Part 21: World Oceans Day: Marine diseases hidden beneath the waves incur high economic, ecological costs
Researchers work to better understand neglected field of marine infectious diseases