U of I Research Team Earns Nearly $6M to Battle Lyme Disease, Surging Tick-Borne Illnesses
August 31, 2020University of Idaho researchers are leading a nearly $6 million National Science Foundation (NSF) cooperative agreement, using large and complex data sets to improve prediction and response measures for tick-borne diseases.
According to a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report published in 2018, reported cases of tick-borne disease such as Lyme Disease, Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever and anaplasmosis, with symptoms similar to COVID-19, more than doubled from 22,000 cases in 2004 to 48,000 cases in 2016. Ticks were responsible for 94 percent of vector-borne diseases in 2014.
"Tick-borne disease is widespread, but it’s not only a human illness. It can infect animals such as horses and cattle, too," said Xiaogang "Marshall" Ma, computer science assistant professor and research team lead. “For big agricultural states such as Idaho, having the proper response protocols in place is essential to protect our communities as well as our economy.â€
U of I is part of the four-year NSF project with the University of Nevada, Reno and Dartmouth College. Researchers will design a data framework to organize and clean case data and track movement of tick-borne diseases across the U.S., particularly east to west, where reported cases are low and data points are widespread.
This project was funded to University of Idaho by the National Science Foundation under award number 2019609. The total project funding is $5,830,709.00 of which 100.00% is the federal share.