Page 1
Page 2
Page 3
Page 4
Page 5
Page 6
Page 7
Page 8
Page 9
Page 10
Page 11
Page 12
Page 13
Page 14
Page 15
Page 16
Page 17
Page 18
Page 19
Page 20
Page 21
Page 22
Page 23
Page 24
Page 25
Page 26
Page 27
Page 28
Page 29
Page 30
Page 31
Page 32
Page 33
Page 34
Page 35
Page 36
Page 37
Page 38
Page 39
Page 40
Page 41
Page 42
Page 43
Page 44
Page 45
Page 46
Page 47
Page 48
Page 49
Page 50
Page 51
Page 52
Page 53
Page 54
Page 55
Page 56
Page 57
Page 58
Page 59
Page 60
Page 61
Page 62
Page 63
Page 64
Page 65
Page 66
Page 67
Page 68
Page 69
Page 70
Page 71
Page 72
Page 73
Page 74
Page 75
Page 76
Page 77
Page 78
Page 79
Page 80
Page 81
Page 82
Page 83
Page 84
Page 85
Page 86
Page 87
Page 88
Page 89
Page 90
Page 91
Page 92
Page 93
Page 94
Page 95
Page 96
Page 97
Page 98
Page 99
Page 100
Page 101
Page 102
Page 103
Page 104
Page 105
Page 106
Page 107
Page 108
Page 109
Page 110
Page 111
Page 112
Page 113
Page 114
Page 115
Page 116
Page 117
Page 118
Page 119
Page 120
Page 121
Page 122
Page 123
Page 124
Page 125
Page 126
Page 127
Page 128
Page 129
Page 130
Page 131
Page 132
Page 133
Page 134
Page 135
Page 136
Page 137
Page 138
Page 139
Page 140
Page 141
Page 142
Page 143
Page 144
Page 145
Page 146
Page 147
Page 148
Page 149
Page 150
Page 151
Page 152
Page 153
Page 154
Page 155
Page 156
Page 157
Page 158
Page 159
Page 160
Page 161
Page 162
Page 163
Page 164
Page 165
Page 166
Page 167
Page 168
Page 169
Page 170
Page 171
Page 172
Page 173
Page 174
Page 175
Page 176
Page 177
Page 178
Page 179
Page 180
Page 181
Page 182
Page 183
Page 184
Page 185
Page 186
Page 187
Page 188
Page 189
Page 190
Page 191
Page 192
Page 193
Page 194
Page 195
Page 196
Page 197
Page 198
Page 199
Page 200
Page 201
Page 202
Page 203
Page 204
Page 205
Page 206
Page 207
Page 208
Page 209
Page 210
Page 211
Page 212
172 People laugh when I say it but I really do love viruses. They fascinate me. The contrast between their structural simplicity and the complex interactions they have with the cells they infect as well as the sometimes drastic consequences on the infected host will never cease to amaze me. I am not noted for being a patient personso the fact that viruses evolve quickly also suits me.We can track and observe how they adapt to their environment in real- time. And there is such diversity among viruses that I dont have to worry about running out of things to learn. My research focuses mainly on viruses that are associated with emerging infectious diseases EIDs.An EID is an infectious disease that has newly appeared in a population or that may have previously existed but is rapidly increasing in incidence or geographic range.Well-known and topical examples include HIV- AIDS dengue chikungunya fever ebola virus disease avian and H1N1 influenza. About 75 of recent EIDs in humans and 60 of all human pathogens are diseases of animal origin.Im particularly interested in the mechanisms by which these viruses gain the ability to affect human populations and in some cases go on to have a major impact. We know that emergence requires that the causative agent is introduced into a vulnerable human population has the ability to spread from person-to-person and can be maintained in the population so that new infections continue to occur. In some cases this is achieved via genetic changes in the pathogen that increase its transmissibility host range and virulencebut very often it is a direct consequence of environmen- taldemographic and societal changes e.g.urbanisationalteration of natural habitats and rapid global travel that increase the probability of susceptible individuals coming into contact with infected hosts or vectors. My research groups current focus is vector-borne viruses such as the dengue viruses Chikungunya virus and other mosquito- borne viruses as well as rabies and other viruses carried by bats.We are trying to answer questions such as - What evolutionary and ecological factors determine viral emergence - What are the patterns of geographic spread demonstrated by emerging viruses in the Americas and what factors influence these patterns - How and where are viruses maintained between epidemics Is there regular reintroduction from other geographic regions or are they maintained locally at low levels - What are the animal reservoirs for current emerging viral diseases - What is the level of viral diversity in animal species that are likely sources of emerging viruses e.g. mosquitoes blood- sucking arthropods and bats Our general approach involves sampling viruses from the infected hosts or vectors sequencing their genomes and using state-of-the-art phylogenetic and bioinformatic techniques to estimate evolutionary relationships among viruses the rates at which they evolve and the forces driving their evolution the dates when individual viruses or specific lineages of a given virus arose how viral population sizes or levels of genetic diversity have changed over time their patterns of geographic spread spatial diffusion and to identify factors that determine and thus might be used to predict patterns of epidemic growth and spread. The beauty of this approach is that it relies on historical information contained in viral genomic sequences rather than epidemiological records to illuminate viral epidemic history.It can therefore recover information on virus transmission that occurred before systematic epidemiological surveillance was initiated.This is a very important consideration in developing countries given the deficiencies of public health infrastructure that frustrate the collec- tion of accurate and timely data through traditional surveillance mechanisms. To date we have completed investigations on the evolution and spread of dengue virus yellow fever and rabies viruses in the Americas. We have also characterised several viruses isolated during our extensive mosquito surveillance in forested regions of Trinidad some of which were previously unknown. This mosquito surveillance work provided updated information on viruses in circulation in Trinidad and their mosquito vectors. We are now focusing on dengue chikungunya and other viruses associated with febrile illnesses in patients presenting at selected healthcare institutions in Trinidad. In addition to providing greater insight into the evolution of these virusesthe level of viral diversity that exists in our region and the factors that shape this diversityour work results in estimates of how quickly specific virus populations are growingreconstruction of virus migration histories and identification of epidemiologically linked countries. In the case of dengue viruses we noted a high degree of virus movement within the Caribbean region and found that the intensity of viral traffic between countries was related to strength of economic and cultural ties between these countries. There was greater movement of virus amongst Caribbean Community CARICOM member countries than between CARICOM members and non-members. Our more recent MEDICAL SCIENCES Professor of Molecular Genetics and Virology Department of Pre-Clinical Sciences Tel 868 645 2640 ext. 4634 E-mail christine.carringtonsta.uwi.edu PROF. CHRISTINE V. F. CARRINGTON