The Critical Role of Permanent Voucher Specimens of Hosts and Vectors in Public Health and Epidemiology

A Townsend Peterson

doi:10.3201/eid1602.091241

Abstract

The Critical Role of Permanent Voucher Specimens of Hosts and Vectors in Public Health and Epidemiology

Highlights

Disease studies that lack careful biodiversity documentation are numerous, even in the recent literature
Much remains to be learned from relationships between host population genetic structure and pathogen distributions
Host samples accumulated for 1 purpose could be recycled to form a strong basis for future studies of pathogens not yet known

Summary

Introduction

Disease studies that lack careful biodiversity documentation are numerous, even in the recent literature. The failure to preserve voucher specimens, makes such retesting and improved learning impossible. In early studies of filoviruses, thousands of specimens were tested serologically for evidence of infection [9], with no positive results [10]. Much remains to be learned from relationships between host population genetic structure and pathogen distributions.

Results

Conclusion