October 26 Program - The Plague in Fort Collins?

Dr. Mike Antolin came to CSU in 1992 after studying biology at the University of Pennsylvania (BA 1981), The University of Alberta, Canada (M.Sc. 1985), and Florida State University (PhD 1990).  He is an “evolutionary and population biologist”, and continues to teach evolution and population genetics at both undergraduate and graduate levels.  For the last 15 years his research has focused on the evolution and genetics of infectious diseases, which also led to thinking about evolution and medicine in history, and the modern age.  

 

Dr. Antolin’s lab focuses on the epidemiology of plague in Black-tailed prairie dogs in northeastern Colorado, the same bacterial pathogen responsible for the “Black Death” epidemics in medieval Europe in the 1300s.  Vector-borne diseases can re-emerge after periods of relative quiescence, demonstrating their ongoing ability to threaten human health.  Plague, a flea-borne bacterial disease that many believe disappeared following the Black Death of medieval times, has recently experienced outbreaks in Africa, Asia, and South America.  Plague still exists in many western states, including Colorado, among native rodents and their fleas. 

 

Humans cases in the U.S. are relatively rare (usually less than 10 per year), but can occur as a result of being bitten by wild rodent fleas or though handling infected animals.  The lab uses genetic analyses to trace transmission pathways in nature.  More recently they have begun work on the genetics of chronic wasting disease in mule deer northern Colorado.