May 25, 2007
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Sharon Minnick
(Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey) |
DAVIS—Sharon Minnick, a doctoral candidate in the Department of Entomology at the University of California, Davis, has accepted a one-year epidemiology fellowship with the Vector-Borne Diseases Division of the California Department of Health Services.
Beginning this summer, she will carry out epidemiologic studies on a variety of vectorborne diseases throughout the state. “It’s a good introduction to the public health field in California,” she said.
Minnick researches dengue, a mosquito-borne disease found in tropical and sub-tropical regions.
“Sharon’s Ph.D research has revealed previously unrecognized details that will substantially improve the prospects for dengue prevention in resource strapped, disease endemic countries,” said her major professor, Thomas Scott, professor of entomology and director of the UC Mosquito Research Laboratory at UC Davis. “We are very proud of her accomplishments. Although we are happy for her to be able to pursue this new challenge, we are really going to miss her when she leaves our research group.”
Minnick, who plans a career in medical entomology with an international emphasis, said dengue afflicts some 50 million people a year. Globally, some 2.5 million people are at risk for the mosquito-borne disease, primarily transmitted by Aedes aegypti.
The mild form of dengue, also known as dengue fever, causes fever, weakness and debilitating pain, she said, while hemorrhages, shock and sometimes death characterize the most severe form, dengue hemorrhagic fever.
Nearly 4000 cases of dengue were reported in the United States from 1977 to 2004, but many more cases go unreported. Dengue outbreaks occasionally occur in south Texas, near the Mexican border.
American travelers returning from dengue-endemic areas account for imported dengue cases. “It’s a big problem among travelers,” Minnick said. “You can’t take medicine, like you can to prevent malaria. You can’t take a vaccine like you can with yellow fever. There is no cure for dengue.”
“The virus that causes dengue is actually a collection of four distinct serotypes. If you get one form of dengue, that does not protect you from the others.”
A native of Sterling Heights, Mich., Minnick received her bachelor of science degree in biology from the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, and her master’s degree in epidemiology from UC Davis. She is scheduled to complete her doctorate in entomology this summer.
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--Kathy Keatley Garvey
Communications specialist
(530) 754-6894
