Complex Disease Problems Across Scales: Perspectives on Advancing Disease Ecology with Trans-Disciplinary Research

[...]Dr. Auguste presented research on the use of closely related insect‐specific viruses to protect against arthropod‐borne viruses that infect vertebrates (inoculating mice with a novel insect‐specific flavivirus to protect against West Nile virus superinfection and vaccine development to retain that protection). In the context of West Nile virus at a regional scale, Dr. Paull gave examples of how the most influential climate factors (e.g., number of weeks below freezing, within‐season precipitation, and drought) differ among states and counties. In equatorial regions, where biodiversity is high but land cover data availability is relatively low, there is a need for augmenting human transmission monitoring with land cover classification and mosquito surveillance.