# Zika and Dengue Co-circulation Under Environmental Change and Urbanization

> **NIH NIH R01** · UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR · 2020 · $753,505

## Abstract

Abstract: The recent emergence of Zika in Latin America has caused over 1.5 million cases in
70 countries, with some 1,939 related cases of microcephaly since 2013. There is increasing
evidence that Zika virus (ZIKV) and Dengue virus (DENV), both flaviviruses with high levels of
cross-reactivity, have interdependent incidence trends, possibly due to host immunity and/or
competition between the two viruses for mosquito infection. The effectiveness of any
intervention approach will depend on the epidemiology of these co-circulating flaviviruses. We
propose to examine the spatiotemporal epidemiological relationships of these viruses in a
previously remote region in Esmeraldas province of northern coastal Ecuador, where the
construction of a new road has created a gradient of urbanicity. This region exemplifies
environmental, social, and demographic changes taking place worldwide. Our project team has
12 years of data on environmental change and infectious disease transmission in this region
which we will build on to help address our study questions. Our overall objective is to
understand the interplay between ZIKV and DENV transmission and how this interplay may
change along the urbanicity spectrum. To do this we propose to characterize the epidemiology
of both ZIKV and DENV simultaneously and to create a risk model that will inform interventions
accounting for pathogen interaction and the level of urbanicity. DENV has one main
vectorborne transmission pathway. ZIKV, in contrast, has multiple transmission pathways, e.g.,
mosquito and sexual transmission, and multiple mosquito species, therefore the relevant causal
assemblages in more rural and more urban environments need to be carefully defined and their
significance carefully assessed. Our overall question is this: what are the characteristics and
mechanisms behind the co-circulation of ZIKV and DENV, and what key factors (e.g., human
population density and diversity, social network structure, movement and migration patterns,
infrastructure, vector populations, shifting economies) modify this interdependency? We
propose a longitudinal study design at the village level that will allow us to estimate dengue and
zika incidence over time.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 9975093
- **Project number:** 5R01AI132372-04
- **Recipient organization:** UNIVERSITY OF MICHIGAN AT ANN ARBOR
- **Principal Investigator:** Josefina Coloma
- **Activity code:** R01 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2020
- **Award amount:** $753,505
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-08-02 → 2023-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/9975093

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 9975093, Zika and Dengue Co-circulation Under Environmental Change and Urbanization (5R01AI132372-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/9975093. Licensed CC0.

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