DETECTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF POTENTIAL EMERGING AND EMERGENT ARBOVIRUSES IN MOSQUITOES IN THE CARIBBEAN

Over the past few decades there has been a global resurgence of mosquito-borne viral diseases. In many cases, the geographic distribution of the viruses and their mosquito vectors have expanded globally, accompanied by more frequent and larger epidemics, while other viruses have been introduced into new regions. Globalization, increased migration of people and animals and Climate Change are thought to be driving this. In the 1950s and 60s, the Collaborator demonstrated the existence of several mosquito-borne viruses in human and animal populations in the Caribbean region, including in the twin island republic of Trinidad and Tobago. The advent of new molecular sequencing technologies makes it important to follow up these earlier studies in order to understand which viruses are currently present in mosquito populations and whether these viruses pose a risk to animal and public health, following a One Health approach. With the rapid rate of urbanization and encroachment of the human population into once-forested areas, the likelihood of other mosquito-borne pathogens emerging/re-emerging in Trinidad is high. Additionally, the risk of foreign pathogens entering Trinidad and Tobago is also significant given the high levels of tourism and legal/illegal migration of animals and humans into the island from neighboring Venezuela on the South American mainland. Our main goal of this cooperative agreement is therefore to determine the identity, distribution, and biodiversity of mosquito-borne viruses in Trinidad and Tobago, and to infer their demographic and migration histories with a view to identifying whether they are emerging or potentially emergent. We plan to develop and apply new metagenomic sequencing technology to detect and characterize arboviruses present in different mosquito populations in Trinidad and Tobago that could pose emerging animal and human disease threats, and to develop a baseline of virus population variability. The areas that will be targeted for investigation will include forested, forest fringe (bordering forests), urban and farmed (livestock) areas that will inform predictive models of the effects of human and livestock encroachment on the emergence of arboviruses. The two main objectives of this collaborative study are: Objective 1: To identify human and animal mosquito-borne viruses in Trinidad and Tobago and to determine their distribution relative to human and animal habitations. Objective 2: To characterize mosquito-borne viruses currently in circulation in Trinidad and Tobago and to infer their evolutionary and migration histories, as well as the threats they pose to human and animal health nationally, regionally, and internationally, including to the USA.