Stephanie Richards
East Carolina University, NC·Public Health & Epidemiology
La Crosse virus, spread by mosquitoes, is the leading cause of mosquito-borne brain inflammation (encephalitis) in children in the United States. In North Carolina, most cases occur in the rural mountain counties of the west, within Southern Appalachia, where both native and invasive mosquito carriers are common right around homes.
- Fields
Public Health & Epidemiology
Microbiology & Immunology
Ecology & Evolution
- Topics
La Crosse virus
encephalitis
arbovirus
- Grants
- 1 known grant, through Jul 2027
What they work on
- Assess acute and persistent medical, social and cognitive impacts of La Crosse virus disease in western North Carolina, using chart review, survivor surveys, follow-up interviews and clinical assessment.
- Quantify economic hardship among survivors and families through interviews, estimating direct costs such as therapy, medication and tutoring and indirect costs such as travel, missed work and caregiver mental health.
- Test whether vector abundance tracks disease incidence by assessing egg-laying sites, land cover and mosquito collections at case residences and non-case neighborhoods, targeting Aedes triseriatus, Ae. albopictus and Ae. japonicus.
More about the research
These counties are among the most economically distressed in the state, which likely contributes to low awareness of risk, weak use of personal protection, and limited clinical recognition when disease is not severe. Yearly case counts are low, but illness can leave lasting medical, learning and financial problems that are poorly documented.
Why it matters
Families in rural, low-income Appalachian communities bear long-lasting costs when a child develops La Crosse virus disease. Documenting those costs and the mosquito-related risks at case homes could guide public and environmental health strategies: education campaigns, earlier clinical recognition, mosquito control and recovery resources that reduce harm to survivors and their families.
Known grants
From NIH and NSF research grants. Labs often have other funding we can't see.
Closest labs
Laura B Dickson
University of Texas Medical Branch at Galveston, TX·Microbiology & Immunology
Test whether formation of the peritrophic matrix, a sac around the blood meal, changes Aedes aegypti midgut susceptibility to arboviruses by controlling how easily the virus reaches the gut lining.
Lisa Baik
University of California-Davis, CA·Neuroscience·Early-career
Test how taste neurons of Aedes albopictus respond to a panel of taste compounds, including blends of human host cues with different compositions, using physiological recordings.
Alun Lloyd
North Carolina State University, NC·Mathematics & Statistics
Measure how residents of Ibagué, Colombia differ in adopting mosquito-prevention behaviors around the home, such as water container management, and identify the cues that drive them, using observational and experimental social science methods.
The school
East Carolina University: 5 labs on PI Pages, $73M a year on research, 102 research doctorates a year.
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