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Jamie Childs, ScD

Lecturer in Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)
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Additional Titles

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Contact Info

Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

PO Box 208034, 60 College Street

New Haven, CT 06520-8034

United States

About

Titles

Lecturer in Epidemiology (Microbial Diseases)

Affiliated Faculty, Yale Institute for Global Health

Biography

Senior Scientist Childs’ area of research includes theecological dynamics of directly-transmitted zoonotic viruses, including the hantaviruses, arenaviruses and rabies, and vector-borne bacteria, including rickettsia, bartonella and borrelia. Prior to coming to Yale in 2004, Dr. Childs served as the Chief of the Viral and Rickettial Zoonoses Branch at CDC.

His recent interests and research, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Albert Ko, Division Chief at Yale, and Fleur Porter, an MPH candidate, focus on the ecoepidemiology of intra- and inter-specific transmission of leptospires in an urban slum setting in Salvador, Brazil. The Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) is the principal reservoir host for leptospires causing human disease in Salvador, however, scant knowledge exists on the mechanisms of acquisition, maintenance and shedding of this bacterium by rats. Humans are directly infected by leptospires through contact with environments contaminated with spirochetes shed in the urine of infected rats Defining parameters of the natural history of leptospiral infection within individual rats and within rat populations, coupled with determinations of critical environmental and ecological features underlying the distribution and density of rat populations, will help elucidate risk factors for human infection and disease.

Appointments

Education & Training

NRC Postdoctoral Fellow
The United States Army Medical Research Institute for Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) (1984)
ScD
Johns Hopkins School of Hygiene and Public Health (1982)
BA
Washington University (1974)

Research

Overview

My research has focused on the transmission of zoonotic pathogens to humans. I have focused on the acquisition, maintenance and transmission of infectious agents within natural reservoir-host species and on the risk factors contributing to human infection and disease. My interests include directly-transmitted zoonotic viruses, such as the hantaviruses, arenaviruses and rabies, and vector-borne bacteria, including rickettsia, bartonella and borrelia.My current interests and research, conducted in collaboration with Dr. Albert Ko, Division Chief at Yale, and Fleur Porter, an MPH candidate, focus on the ecoepidemiology of intra- and inter-specific transmission of leptospires in an urban slum setting in Salvador, Brazil. The Norway rat (Rattus norvegicus) is the principal reservoir host for leptospires causing human disease in Salvador, however, scant knowledge exists on the mechanisms of acquisition, maintenance and shedding of this bacterium by rats. Humans are directly infected by leptospires through contact with environments contaminated with spirochetes shed in the urine of infected rats Defining parameters of the natural history of leptospiral infection within individual rats and within rat populations, coupled with determinations of critical environmental and ecological features underlying the distribution and density of rat populations, will help elucidate risk factors for human infection and disease.

Medical Subject Headings (MeSH)

Arenavirus; Bartonella; Borrelia; Global Health; Leptospira; Lyme Disease; Orthohantavirus; Rabies; Rickettsia; Zoonoses

Research at a Glance

Yale Co-Authors

Frequent collaborators of Jamie Childs's published research.

Publications

2024

2023

2022

2021

2020

Get In Touch

Contacts

Academic Office Number
Office Fax Number
Mailing Address

Epidemiology of Microbial Diseases

PO Box 208034, 60 College Street

New Haven, CT 06520-8034

United States

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