Richard Hassall

An announcement poster stating 'We have detected West Nile virus in mosquitoes collected in the UK for the first time', with a mosquito graphic.

🆕 Today, UKHSA and the Animal and Plant Health Agency (APHA) have confirmed the first detection of West Nile virus in mosquitoes collected in the UK.
There is currently no evidence of wider circulation in birds or mosquitoes, and the risk to the public remains very low.
📰🔗 www.gov.uk/government/n...

The overlapping global distribution of dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever - Nature Communications Arboviruses transmitted by Aedes mosquitoes have an expanding global distribution and identifying areas at risk is important for public health planning. Here, the authors present global disease maps f...

"The overlapping global distribution of dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever" now out with the WHO GAI team doi.org/10.1038/s414...

🧭 New #ECDC Maps Highlight Tick-Borne Encephalitis Risk Areas in Europe.

➡️ Our maps show the #TBE hotspots in the EU are mainly concentrated in Central, Eastern, & Northern Europe.

➡️ Some areas reported TBE for the 1st time, indicating possible geographical spread.

Read more: bit.ly/42p8XJT

New GLiTRS paper out today!

Great to work with such a fantastic team in partnership with UKHSA as part of the TickSolve project. @ukceh.bsky.social @ukhsa.bsky.social @mayaholding.bsky.social @bethpurse.bsky.social

Identifying hotspots and risk factors for tick-borne encephalitis virus emergence at its range margins to guide interventions, Great Britain Background Tick-borne encephalitis virus (TBEV) is expanding its range in Europe, with increasing human cases reported. Since the first detection of TBEV in ticks in the United Kingdom in 2019, one po...

Our new paper combines wildlife surveillance data and spatial risk modelling to map suitability for TBEV in GB. We identified key drivers linked to TBEV exposure in deer and produced risk maps, which can guide future surveillance and interventions. www.eurosurveillance.org/content/10.2...

Department for Education confirms launch of natural history GCSE Campaigners have been calling for the qualification for years but plan stalled despite a curriculum being drawn up

Brilliant news on a Friday afternoon: gov will launch new natural history GCSE. It's taken Mary Colwell, @carolinelucas.bsky.social & others years of campaigning. (I'm praying it'll be introduced quickly enough for my children!)
www.theguardian.com/environment/...

Radar versus optical: The impact of cloud cover when mapping seasonal surface water for health applications in monsoon-affected India Surface water plays a vital role in the spread of infectious diseases. Information on the spatial and temporal dynamics of surface water availability is thus critical to understanding, monitoring and ...

Interested in quantifying how surface water might affect water-borne and water-related infectious diseases in degraded tropical agro-forest landscapes? Optical remote sensing can miss small monsoon water-bodies where animal hosts, people and vectors hang out.... doi.org/10.1371/jour...

Global hotspots of (a) observed vs (b) predicted betacoronavirus hosts.

📢 New in @methodsinecoevol.bsky.social

A framework to predict zoonotic hosts under data uncertainty: a case study on betacoronaviruses
Tonelli&al: doi.org/10.1111/2041...

We predict unknown potential viral hosts to unveil unrecognised hotspots of betacoronaviruses: time to redefine surveillance?

First evidence of transovarial transmission of Kyasanur Forest disease virus in Haemaphysalis and Rhipicephalus ticks in the wild - Parasites & Vectors Background Kyasanur forest disease virus (KFDV) is a tick-borne flavivirus causing debilitating and potentially fatal disease in people in the Western Ghats region of India. The transmission cycle is ...

First field evidence that Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus can be transmitted from adult females to their eggs in both Haemaphysalis and Rhipicephalus ticks in India. Read more here: doi.org/10.1186/s130...

New study on dengue importation dynamics in Africa combining passenger flight, suitability, and seasonal transmission dynamics.

Led by Jenicca Poongavanan and Houriiyah Tegally.

www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...

CR2025_21: Developing metrics of change for pollinating insects in the UK at University of Reading on FindAPhD.com PhD Project - CR2025_21: Developing metrics of change for pollinating insects in the UK at University of Reading, listed on FindAPhD.com

Looking for a #PhDposition? Passionate about #pollinators and #citizenscience? Come do a PhD at @ukceh.bsky.social on developing indicators for pollinating insects using data from UK PoMS. The project includes a placement at JNCC. To apply tinyurl.com/3ve5szrh
@drnickisaac.bsky.social

Read about the factors affecting cross-sectoral collaboration in zoonotic disease management in India in our new paper, by Dr Festus Asaaga and the IndiaZooRisk and IndiaZooSystems teams rdcu.be/d2akp @ukceh.bsky.social @ukri.org

Fantastic to work with such a great team on this. @bethpurse.bsky.social, Louise Barwell, Olaf Booy, Simone Lioy, Stephanie Rorke, Kevin Smith, Riccardo Scalera, Helen Roy, Helen Roy. @ukceh.bsky.social

Predicting the spatio‐temporal dynamics of biological invasions: Have rapid responses in Europe limited the spread of the yellow‐legged hornet (Vespa velutina nigrithorax)? By predicting the extent of a biological invasion in the absence of timely interventions and comparing this to the current distribution of the yellow-legged hornet, we found that management measures ...

Our new paper in @jappliedecology.bsky.social used models informed by spread in invaded regions to assess the effectiveness of interventions targeting yellow-legged hornet (aka Asian hornet) at its invasion front in Europe. doi.org/10.1111/1365....