Called the Center for Vector-Borne Diseases, it will focus on ailments such as viral encephalitis, Lyme disease, ehrlichiosis, plague, malaria and dengue fever.
Vectors are animals that transmit microbial disease-causing agents.
Also co-directing the fledgling center is Tom Scott, one of the nation's most distinguished medical entomologists and director of the UC Davis Mosquito Research Laboratory. The center will pay special attention to California problems, but also will address vector-borne diseases that occur in developing countries and tropical areas of the world, in order to develop better global strategies for protecting human health, animal agriculture and foreign trade. The center is a collaboration by the School of Veterinary Medicine, School of Medicine, and College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences. Dateline UC Davis is the faculty and staff newspaper for the University of California, Davis.