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Abstract BackgroundTick-borne diseases are a growing public health threat in the United States. Despite the prevalence and rising burden of tick-borne diseases, there are major gaps in baseline knowledge and surveillance efforts for tick vectors, even among vector control districts and public health agencies. To address this issue, an online tick training course (OTTC) was developed through the Southeastern Center of Excellence in Vector-Borne Diseases (SECOEVBD) to provide a comprehensive knowledge base on ticks, tick-borne diseases, and their management. MethodsThe OTTC consisted of training modules covering topics including tick biology, tick identification, tick-borne diseases, and public health, personal tick safety, and tick surveillance. The course was largely promoted to vector control specialists and public health employees throughout the Southeastern US. We collected assessment and survey data on participants to gauge learning outcomes, perceptions of the utility of knowledge gained, and barriers and facilitators to applying the knowledge in the field. ResultsThe OTTC was successful in increasing participants’ baseline knowledge across all course subject areas, with the average score on assessment increasing from 62.6% (pre-course) to 86.7% (post-course). More than half of participants (63.6%) indicated that they would definitely use information from the course in their work. Barriers to using information identified in the delayed assessment included lack of opportunities to apply skills (18.5%) and the need for additional specialized training beyond what the OTTC currently offers (18.5%), while the main facilitator (70.4%) for applying knowledge was having opportunities at work, such as an existing tick surveillance program. ConclusionsOverall, this OTTC demonstrated capacity to improve knowledge in a necessary and underserved public health field, and more than half of participants use or plan to use the information in their work. The geographic reach of this online resource was much larger than simply for the Southeastern region for which it was designed, suggesting a much broader need for this resource. Understanding the utility and penetrance of training programs such as these is important for refining materials and assessing optimal targets for training. 

Abstract Purpose of ReviewPreparing for pandemics requires a degree of interdisciplinary work that is challenging under the current paradigm. This review summarizes the challenges faced by the field of pandemic science and proposes how to address them. Recent FindingsThe structure of current siloed systems of research organizations hinders effective interdisciplinary pandemic research. Moreover, effective pandemic preparedness requires stakeholders in public policy and health to interact and integrate new findings rapidly, relying on a robust, responsive, and productive research domain. Neither of these requirements are well supported under the current system. SummaryWe propose a new paradigm for pandemic preparedness wherein interdisciplinary research and close collaboration with public policy and health practitioners can improve our ability to prevent, detect, and treat pandemics through tighter integration among domains, rapid and accurate integration, and translation of science to public policy, outreach and education, and improved venues and incentives for sustainable and robust interdisciplinary work. 

Abstract Increasingly, geographic approaches to assessing the risk of tick‐borne diseases are being used to inform public health decision‐making and surveillance efforts. The distributions of key tick species of medical importance are often modeled as a function of environmental factors, using niche modeling approaches to capture habitat suitability. However, this is often disconnected from the potential distribution of key host species, which may play an important role in the actual transmission cycle and risk potential in expanding tick‐borne disease risk. Using species distribution modeling, we explore the potential geographic range ofOryzomys palustris, the marsh rice rat, which has been implicated as a potential reservoir host ofRickettsia parkeri, a pathogen transmitted by the Gulf Coast tick (Amblyomma maculatum) in the southeastern United States. Due to recent taxonomic reclassification ofO. palustrissubspecies, we reclassified geolocated collections records into the newer clade definitions. We modeled the distribution of the two updated clades in the region, establishing for the first time, range maps and distributions of these two clades. The predicted distribution of both clades indicates a largely Gulf and southeastern coastal distribution. Estimated suitable habitat forO. palustrisextends into the southern portion of the Mid‐Atlantic region, with a discontinuous, limited area of suitability in coastal California. Broader distribution predictions suggest potential incursions along the Mississippi River. We found considerable overlap of predictedO. palustrisranges with the distribution ofA. maculatum, indicating the potential need for extended surveillance efforts in those overlapping areas and attention to the role of hosts in transmission cycles.