NACCHO staff from both the Environmental Health Team and Infectious Disease Team attended an Institute of Medicine (IOM) Forum on Microbial Threats Workshop titled, “Vector-Borne Diseases: Exploring the Environmental, Ecological, and Health Connections” on September 16 and 17. This two-day workshop highlighted recent developments in the incidence and prevalence of vector-borne diseases among humans, plants, and animals in the face of a changing climate. The workshop featured presentations and discussions that focused on the following topics: global movement of vector-borne diseases; emerging domestic and global vector-borne diseases; research priorities in understanding the biology and ecology of vector-borne diseases; vector-borne disease preparedness; and vector-borne disease prevention, control, and therapeutics. An interesting discussion focused on the changing paradigms for tick-borne diseases, such as Lyme disease, a disease which has been making recent headlines (see the Washington Post and Scientific American for more).
Often, IOM hosts workshops open to the public. Find out more about these public meetings here.