The professor of the Veterinary Faculty of the University of Zaragoza and director of the research chair in urban pests and Public Health of the Zaragoza City Council, Ignacio de Blas, participated in the presentation of the fifth pilot plan for vector-borne diseases, in Orihuela of Tremedal.
-Why is the pilot plan important?
-Because we have to be able to provide a rapid response to a health incident, such as these emerging vector diseases, which are becoming more and more frequent. We have to begin to design which are the most appropriate protocols adapted to the provision of services of an autonomous government, which differ a little from what would be the scientific research methodology that we carry out. Then, we must transfer this scientific knowledge to the more applied field of public health in general.
-These protocols refer, therefore, to when it is transmitted to humans.
-Yes, above all we are talking about protocols for early identification of the vectors of insects, ticks and others that transmit these diseases. We talk about identifying them and then knowing who we have to contact or who has to contact each sample shipping chain to know who where to send them and under what conditions and all this, what we are doing in the plant in this pilot project is organizing that methodology and then transfer it to the rest of the regions, there may be a risk of any of these vector diseases that we are studying.
-How is the transfer of ticks theoretically linked from animal fauna to humans?
-Unlike mosquitoes, in which it is the females that bite in order to lay eggs, ticks both males and females drink blood and also drink blood at each stage change. During this blood ingestion they can ingest pathogens with the blood of both people and animals and when they bite a new person again they can transmit these viruses, which also multiply inside them. Therefore, here there is a problem especially of those that are zoonotic, where in animal reservoirs they can be infected in an inapparent way without any site and when people bite is when the problem can manifest.
-Places like Orihuela del Tremedal, where there is a very close interface between fauna and the population, are they more sensitive to these possible infections?
– Yes, because they are reservoirs where there is a lot of wildlife. In fact, in addition to the area most affected by Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever, which is now Extremadura, there have been cases this year in Toledo, the southern area of Castilla y León, especially on the border with Portugal. In that situation, what happened when the virus was introduced there is that it has spread throughout the wild ruminant population and that poses a risk to the human population. Here we want to look at the presence of these ticks, which is a specific species that is capable of transmitting the virus, if it is present, in what quantity or what impact it can have on the wildlife so that we can evaluate if, unfortunately, the virus is introduced. virus, to be able to take measures and know how to evaluate the consequences that this introduction of the virus may have.
– Because? What protocols are currently in place regarding these tick infections and where could they be implemented?
-It can be implemented in any area where there is wildlife. It must be considered that smaller forms of ticks also infest small mammals such as rabbits and basts, for example, making it a fairly complex ecological cycle. So, it is good to get to know wild areas, like we have in Aragon, where there are many areas where there are not only hunters, but also people from the towns, farmers, ranchers who are in contact with this environment and also hikers. We must identify the risk areas and in the event that a problem is detected, which we hope not, be able to give guidelines to both residents of the area and potential hikers on what preventive measures they should have, such as long pants, or repellents or avoid certain areas.
-Would the protocols go through there then, for prevention?
-Currently, what is in force is when there is someone who suffers a tick bite in a health center, we have detected that there the chain of what the health workers do in the health centers, what they do with the ticks or what they do is cut a little. who sends them to them. That is one of the things that this pilot project wants to do, establish a chain for sending samples so that the species of tick can be identified, because each tick can transmit different diseases, and at a given time be able to identify the presence of that pathogen in ticks that have bitten. So, establish that entire system at the health center level and do something similar in terms of the wild environment with the people who are involved. So, it’s about establishing guidelines, a contingency plan.