Wildlife Disease Research Group

The Wildlife Disease and Biosecurity research group was established in 2022 at the Laboratory of Animal Evolution and Zoonotic Diseases.

The research areas of the group include:

• wildlife prevalence studies,

• wildlife ectoparasite studies,

• wildlife pathogen studies,

• wildlife ectoparasite role,

• wildlife behavioral studies

The emergence and threats of infectious diseases, both as a result of human activities and climate change, pose a significant and growing risk to Armenia. The weakly coordinated biological and disease control strategy in the region jeopardizes the protection of human health. The creation of hotspot maps based on the zoonotic disease risk index, as well as the identification of the underlying mechanisms of the disease, will help improve surveillance and implementation of long-term monitoring programs for emerging infectious diseases. The group's work will analyze the risks of diseases circulating between wild animals and humans, as well as the presence and prevalence of pathogens and their vectors (wild species of mammals). The distribution of the prevalence of pathogens and host mammals will be modeled. Based on the data obtained, the target points of spatial variations of zoonotic infectious diseases in Armenia will be mapped.

Collaboration:

The group collaborates with the following institutions:

Institute of Zoology of the Scientific Center for Zoology and Hydroecology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia,

Institute of Molecular Biology of the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Armenia,

Institute of Vertebrate Biology in Brno,

USA, "EcoHealth Alliance" Scientific Center,

Brno University of Veterinary and Pharmaceutical Sciences.

Group members:

1. Astghik Ghazaryan

2. Tigran Hayrapetyan

3. Manan Asikyan

4. Tatevik Harutyunyan

5. Ofik Yelabekyan