Zoonotic disease risk in Madagascar

Zoonoses transmitted from wildlife pose an increasing threat to human health. Sandra’s research addresses both fundamental and applied questions related to host-parasite dynamics in reservoir populations and exposure rates in human populations. A current focus is comparing rodent-borne zoonoses with contrasting transmission routes (plague, leptospirosis, hantavirus and rickettsioses). She is working with the Institut Pasteur de Madagascar to examine how climate and land use influence the abundance of infected reservoirs, and to establish how vulnerability to zoonoses in human populations is influenced by both environmental and socio-economic factors. The work combines field studies, genetic analyses and modelling.