Between 11 to 14 June 2018, Junior Researcher of the Laboratory of Zooantroponozes Julia Panferova took part in the training course “Mosquito-borne viruses and their vectors”, organized as part of the project “Emerging infections. Capacity building on vector-borne infections in the Barents region, Norway and Russia”.
Over 20 specialists from Switzerland, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Kenya and other countries took part in the seminar, held in the Department of Virology of the Umeå University (Sweden). The following reports were presented and discussed: “Mosquito-borne viruses and their diseases” (Magnus Evander, professor at Umeå University, Sweden); “Mosquitoes – biology, vectors, sampling”, “Laboratory colonization of selected mosquitoes and bionomics of endemics and exotic arthropods” (Anders Lindström, Swedish National Veterinary Institute (SVA), Uppsala, Sweden); “Surveillance, detection, remote sensing and response system for emerging and reemerging mosquito-borne viral diseases” (Joacim Rocklöv, Umeå University, Sweden); “Molecular identification of mosquitoes” (Alexander Mathis, Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich, Switzerland); “Barcoding of mosquitoes using cytochrome c oxidase subunit I (COI) gene and single nucleotide polymorphism sites (SNP) analysis” (Göran Bucht, Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich, Switzerland); “Ongoing research activities of the Department of Virology”, “Viral RNA extraction, virus detection using PCR, and virus isolation on cell based system” (Olivia Lwande, Magnus Evander, Umea University, Sweden); Pathogen-vector and host interactions and dynamics, vector capacity and vector competence”, “Vector control” (Eva Veronesi, Institute of Parasitology, University of Zurich, Switzerland).
Also in the framework of the project the following field and laboratory work was carried out: catching mosquitoes and their larvae in the forest station; identification of mosquito species by morphological features and by means of amplification techniques; maintenance of laboratory mosquito populations, feeding, selection of internal organs for analysis of infection. During practical work in the groups, the type of pathogen and vector was established on the example of investigating the outbreak of potentially mosquito-borne arbovirus infection.
During the trip, the possible Cooperation Projects on the prevalence of arbovirus infections in the North-West Federal District between St. Petersburg Pasteur Institute, Norwegian Institute of Public Health and Umeå University were discussed.