Rebecca Lee Smith

• DVM MS PhD
• Professor (Assistant) at University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

BACKGROUND The COVID-19 pandemic challenged families, youth, and frontline workers, including childcare providers. Studying lived experiences before, during, and nearing the end of the pandemic from multiple perspectives provides a more holistic and deeper understanding of its effects and impacts. OBJECTIVE This study investigated how parental, ch...

Background West Nile virus (WNV) is the most common cause of mosquito-borne disease in the continental USA, with an average of ~1200 severe, neuroinvasive cases reported annually from 2005 to 2021 (range 386–2873). Despite this burden, efforts to forecast WNV disease to inform public health measures to reduce disease incidence have had limited succ...

Background Vaccine uptake has declined since the coronavirus disease 2019 pandemic began. The pandemic changed people’s perception about vaccination due to factors such as increasing mistrust in government, spread of misinformation, fear of side effects, unclear communication, concerns about rushed vaccine development, and opposition to mandates in...

Tick-borne diseases in humans and animals have increased prevalence across the United States. To understand risk factors underlying tick-borne diseases it is useful to conduct regular surveillance and monitoring of ticks and the pathogens they carry, in a sustained and effective manner. Using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and...

SARS-CoV-2 has been found in multiple species, including cervids such as wild white-tailed deer (WTD), in multiple regions in the United States, including Illinois. The virus has been shown to transmit among WTD, and across species in both directions (deer-to-humans and humans-to-deer). Cross-species transmission requires infectious contact between...

During pandemics, countries, regions, and communities develop various epidemic models to evaluate spread and guide mitigation policies. However, model uncertainties caused by complex transmission behaviors, contact-tracing networks, time-varying parameters, human factors, and limited data present significant challenges to model-based approaches. To...

Bovine tuberculosis (bTB) is a serious animal health problem in Ethiopia, ranking among the top three livestock diseases. If the factors contributing to the spread and persistence of bTB are not managed, the situation may get worse. Therefore, prioritizing bTB control is essential. A retrospective study was conducted to evaluate the effect of repea...

Background The global pandemic caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus led to a statewide lockdown in Illinois starting in March 2020. To ensure students’ and employees’ safety for school reopening, protective measures, such as a statewide mask mandate and weekly testing, were in place in Illinois from Spring 2021 to Spring 2022. The study objective is to 1...

Even as the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile Virus (WNV) in North America has risen over the past decade, effectively modelling mosquito population density or, the abundance has proven to be a persistent challenge. It is critical to capture the fluctuations in mosquito abundance across seasons in order to forecast the varying ris...

Even as the incidence of mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile Virus (WNV) in North America has risen over the past decade, effectively modelling mosquito population density or, the abundance has proven to be a persistent challenge. It is critical to capture the fluctuations in mosquito abundance across seasons in order to forecast the varying ris...

The livestock sector contributes almost 11% of Pakistan’s GDP and is crucial to 35 million people’s livelihoods. Ticks are a major economic threat, as over 80% of livestock, such as bovines, are tick-infested with Hyalomma and Rhipicephalus tick species. Hyalomma anatolicum and Rhipicephalus microplus are the most common tick species collected from...

Background To investigate the feasibility of conducting COVID‐19 testing in kindergarten‐grade 12 schools, saliva‐based testing was implemented in five schools. The purpose of this study was to understand staff's perspectives of the barriers and facilitators to conducting saliva‐based testing in their settings. Methods Thirty‐three school staff wh...

Machine learning methods have seen increased application to geospatial environmental problems, such as precipitation nowcasting, haze forecasting, and crop yield prediction. However, many of the machine learning methods applied to mosquito population and disease forecasting do not inherently take into account the underlying spatial structure of the...

The rapid spread of West Nile Virus (WNV) is a growing concern. With no vaccines or specific medications available, prevention through mosquito control is the only solution to curb the spread. Mosquito traps, used to detect viral presence in mosquito populations, are essential tools for WNV surveillance. But how do we decide where to place a mosqui...

Background: The menopausal transition involves significant sex hormone changes. Environmental chemicals, such as urinary phthalate metabolites, are associated with sex hormone levels in cross-sectional studies. Few studies have assessed longitudinal associations between urinary phthalate metabolite concentrations and sex hormone levels during menop...

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools were required to shift to virtual learning. Parents and students had to adapt to this sudden change in learning environments and many of their home lives also changed dramatically. Some families faced additional challenges in accessing virtual learning and in balancing their daily lives. The purpos...

The range expansion of ticks to higher latitudes poses a severe threat to human health exposing human populations who had no prior contact with ticks to several harmful tick‐borne diseases. Early detection of ticks in new areas is critical to help inform the public and medical professionals of the dangers associated with tick encounters. Environmen...

Tickborne diseases (TBDs) are increasingly prevalent in Illinois and the Upper Midwest region. People who work in occupations that require time outdoors in agricultural or natural settings, such as some Extension workers, are at risk of tick bites and TBDs. Additionally, Extension workers are often a primary source of information about ticks and TB...

Tick-borne diseases affecting domestic animals and humans have increased globally in recent years. Pakistan, in particular, faces a significant economic threat from ticks, where two specific species, Rhipicephalus microplus and Hyalomma anatolicum, act as vectors for various pathogens such as piroplasma, Anaplasma, Ehrlichia, and Rickettsia that po...

West Nile virus (WNV), a flavivirus transmitted by mosquito bites, causes primarily mild symptoms but can also be fatal. Therefore, predicting and controlling the spread of West Nile virus is essential for public health in endemic areas. We hypothesized that socioeconomic factors may influence human risk from WNV. We analyzed a list of weather, lan...

The global evolution of SARS-CoV-2 depends in part upon the evolutionary dynamics within individual hosts with varying immune histories. To characterize the within-host evolution of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, we sequenced saliva and nasal samples collected daily from vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals early during infection. We show that long...

Vector-borne pathogens (VBPs) causing vector-borne diseases (VBDs) can circulate among humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, with cattle in particular serving as an important source of exposure risk to humans. The close associations between humans and cattle can facilitate the transmission of numerous VBPs, impacting public health and economic se...

Background Humans are widely exposed to phthalates, which are metabolized in the body and excreted in urine. Phthalate metabolites are excreted within hours of exposure, making urinary phthalate biomarker concentrations highly variable. Objective The goal of this study was to characterize the long-term variability in phthalate biomarker concentrat...

West Nile virus (WNV), a flavivirus transmitted by mosquito bites, causes primarily mild symptoms but can also be fatal. Therefore, predicting and controlling the spread of West Nile virus is essential for public health in endemic areas. We hypothesized that socioeconomic factors may influence human risk from WNV. We analyzed a list of weather, lan...

Objective: Tickborne diseases (TBDs) in Illinois have increased in recent years. A growing body of literature indicates that the risk of exposure to ticks and tickborne diseases is higher among outdoor workers, including farmers. However, information is lacking on awareness of ticks and tickborne diseases among this demographic. This study aimed t...

Simple Summary The variable landscape of Illinois creates a patchwork of tickborne disease risk to humans and domestic animals that can be predicted in part based on climate and landscape features. We fit individual and mean-weighted ensemble species distribution models for Ixodes scapularis, Amblyomma americanum, Dermacentor variabilis, and a newl...

Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) may be transmitted among humans, domestic animals, and wildlife, with cattle in particular serving as an important source of exposure risk to humans. The close associations between humans and cattle can facilitate transmission of numerous VBDs which can impact nations’ public health and economic security. Published stud...

The greater U.S. Midwest is on the leading edge of tick and tick-borne disease (TBD) expansion, with tick and TBD encroachment into Illinois occurring from both the northern and the southern regions. To assess historical and future habitat suitability of four ticks of medical concern within the state, we fit individual and mean-weighted ensemble sp...

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is among the worst in recent history, resulting in excess of 520,000,000 cases and 6,200,000 deaths worldwide. The United States (U.S.) has recently surpassed 1,000,000 deaths. Individuals who are elderly and/or immunocompromised are the most susceptible to serious sequelae. Rising sentiment often implicates younger, l...

Background West Nile virus (WNV), primarily vectored by mosquitoes of the genus Culex , is the most important mosquito-borne pathogen in North America, having infected thousands of humans and countless wildlife since its arrival in the USA in 1999. In locations with dedicated mosquito control programs, surveillance methods often rely on frequent te...

Machine learning methods have seen increased application to geospatial environmental problems, such as precipitation nowcasting, haze forecasting, and crop yield prediction. However, many of the machine learning methods applied to mosquito population and disease forecasting do not inherently take into account the underlying spatial structure of the...

Background: Sleep disruptions are among the most common symptoms experienced during menopause and can be associated with depression, hot flashes, and fluctuating hormones. However, few studies have examined how such risk factors influence sleep in midlife women in a network-based approach that will establish the complex relationship between variabl...

The greater U.S. Midwest is on the leading edge of tick and tick-borne disease (TBD) expansion, and tick and TBD encroachment into Illinois is occurring from both the northern and the southern regions. To assess historical and future habitat suitability of four ticks of medical concern within the state, we fit individual and mean-weighted ensemble...

Midlife in women is an understudied time for environmental chemical exposures and menopausal outcomes. Recent cross-sectional research links phthalates with hot flashes, but little is known regarding such associations over time. Our objective was to estimate longitudinal associations between repeated measures of urinary phthalate metabolite concent...

Background: West Nile virus (WNV), primarily vectored from Culex genus mosquitoes, is the most important mosquito-borne pathogen in North America, infecting thousands of humans and countless wildlife since its arrival in 1999. In locations with dedicated mosquito control programs, surveillance methods often rely on frequent testing of mosquitoes co...

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic is among the worst in recent history, resulting in excess of 520,000,000 cases and 6,200,000 deaths worldwide. The United States has recently surpassed 1,000,000 deaths. Individuals who are elderly and/or immunocompromised are the most susceptible to serious sequelae. Rising sentiment often implicates younger, less-vul...

The conservation of freshwater is of both global and national importance, and in the United States, agriculture is one of the largest consumers of this resource. Reduction of the strain farming puts on local surface or groundwater is vital for ensuring resilience in the face of climate change, and one possible option is to irrigate with a combinati...

Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS‐CoV‐2) has a worldwide distribution in humans and many other mammalian species. In late September 2021, 12 animals maintained by the Chicago Zoological Society's Brookfield Zoo were observed with variable clinical signs. The Delta variant of SARS‐CoV‐2 was detected in feces and nasal swabs by qR...

Background The rising incidence of tick-borne disease (TBD) underscores the importance of proficiency in TBD diagnosis. Clinicians' knowledge about vector ticks and TBDs in their area may influence whether patients are questioned about potential tick exposure and the consideration of diagnostic testing for TBDs. Objective Our objective was to asse...

The global evolution of SARS-CoV-2 depends in part upon the evolutionary dynamics within individual hosts with varying immune histories. To characterize the within-host evolution of acute SARS-CoV-2 infection, we deep sequenced saliva and nasal samples collected daily from immune and unvaccinated individuals early during infection. We show that lon...

Background Globally, tick-borne disease is a pervasive and worsening problem that impacts human and domestic animal health, livelihoods, and numerous economies. Species distribution models are useful tools to help address these issues, but many different modeling approaches and environmental data sources exist. Objective We conducted a scoping rev...

In Fall 2020, universities saw extensive transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among their populations, threatening health of the university and surrounding communities, and viability of in-person instruction. Here we report a case study at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where a multimodal “SHIELD: Target, Test, and Tell” program, with other...

The dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 replication and shedding in humans remain poorly understood. We captured the dynamics of infectious virus and viral RNA shedding during acute infection through daily longitudinal sampling of 60 individuals for up to 14 days. By fitting mechanistic models, we directly estimated viral expansion and clearance rates and overa...

No studies, to date, have scrutinized the role of a priori dietary patterns on prognosis following a head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) diagnosis. The purpose of this analysis was to evaluate the associations between adherence to six a priori defined diet quality indices (including AHEI-2010, aMED, DASH, and three low-carbohydrate indice...

Background: The global effort to vaccinate people against severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) during an ongoing pandemic has raised questions about how vaccine breakthrough infections compare with infections in immunologically naive individuals and the potential for vaccinated individuals to transmit the virus. Methods:...

Objective A lack of standardized surveillance or reporting of tick-borne diseases (TBDs) in Illinois creates uncertainty for veterinarians regarding TBDs occurring within their practice geography or which TBDs may be encroaching on their area from neighboring territories. Therefore, the objective of this study was to gauge the knowledge, attitudes,...

Mosquito surveillance is critical to reduce the risk of West Nile virus (WNV) transmission to humans. In response to surveillance indicators such as elevated mosquito abundance or increased WNV levels, many mosquito control programs will perform truck-mounted ultra-low volume (ULV) adulticide application to reduce the number of mosquitoes and assoc...

Background The number of cases of tick-borne diseases in humans is increasing rapidly within Illinois. The responsibility for increased surveillance of tick-borne disease cases and tick vectors is being placed on local health departments throughout the United States, but they often lack the funding, time, and/or training needed to perform said surv...

The range of ticks in North America has been steadily increasing likely, in part, due to climate change. Along with it, there has been a rise in cases of tick-borne disease. Among those medically important tick species of particular concern are Ixodes scapularis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), Dermacentor variabilis Say (Acari: Ixodidae), and Amblyomma amer...

Background Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 reinfection prevalence is unknown. It is essential to understand reinfection symptoms and, importantly, the lived experience. Case presentation Case study design is the best method for understanding this contemporary pandemic and rare occurrence of reinfections. A 19-year-old White Non-His...

Background Phthalate exposure is associated with altered reproductive function, but little is known about associations between phthalate and hormone levels in midlife women. Methods This cross-sectional analysis includes 45–54-year-old pre- and perimenopausal women from Baltimore, MD and its surrounding counties enrolled in the Midlife Women’s Hea...

Phthalates are endocrine disrupting chemicals that influence endogenous hormones. Few studies have examined the link between phthalates and menopause. A recent secondary analysis revealed that phthalates were associated with self-reported sleep measures in perimenopausal women. However, the associations between phthalate exposure and additional mea...

To the Editor—We thank the authors for their interesting letter. We would be most interested in knowing the exact brand of rapid antigen detection test (RADT) they utilized, as these tests can vary in both sensitivity and reliability. We would also be interested in seeing their individual-level timing of tests and results; given the wide variety of...

West Nile virus (WNV) is a globally distributed mosquito-borne virus of great public health concern. The number of WNV human cases and mosquito infection patterns vary in space and time. Many statistical models have been developed to understand and predict WNV geographic and temporal dynamics. However, these modeling efforts have been disjointed wi...

The global effort to vaccinate people against SARS-CoV-2 in the midst of an ongoing pandemic has raised questions about the nature of vaccine breakthrough infections and the potential for vaccinated individuals to transmit the virus. These questions have become even more urgent as new variants of concern with enhanced transmissibility, such as Delt...

One Health is an approach to studying health by recognizing the interconnections between people, animals, plants, and their shared environment. This article describes the process of designing a new course on One Health at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). The authors brought together faculty and students from across campus to d...

In the Fall of 2020, many universities saw extensive transmission of SARS-CoV-2 among their populations, threatening the health of students, faculty and staff, the viability of in-person instruction, and the health of surrounding communities.1, 2 Here we report that a multimodal “SHIELD: Target, Test, and Tell” program mitigated the spread of SARS-...

The dynamics of SARS-CoV-2 replication and shedding in humans remain poorly understood. We captured the dynamics of infectious virus and viral RNA shedding during acute infection through daily longitudinal sampling of 60 individuals for up to 14 days. By fitting mechanistic models, we directly estimate viral reproduction and clearance rates, and ov...

Background Serial screening is critical for restricting spread of SARS-CoV-2 by facilitating the timely identification of infected individuals to interrupt transmission chains. The variation in sensitivity of different diagnostic tests at different stages of infection has not been well documented. Methods This is a longitudinal study of 43 adults...

BACKGROUND: Serial screening is critical for restricting spread of SARS-CoV-2 by facilitating the timely identification of infected individuals to interrupt transmission chains. The variation in sensitivity of different diagnostic tests at different stages of infection has not been well documented. METHODS: This is a longitudinal study of 43 adults...

Background Since 1999, West Nile virus (WNV) has moved rapidly across the United States, resulting in tens of thousands of human cases. Both the number of human cases and the minimum infection rate (MIR) in vector mosquitoes vary across time and space and are driven by numerous abiotic and biotic forces, ranging from differences in microclimates to...

In Illinois, between 1990 and 2017, tick-borne diseases in humans increased 10-fold, yet we have insufficient information on when and where people are exposed to vector ticks (Ixodida: Ixodidae). The aims of our research were to compare contributions of passive and active tick collection methods in determining establishment of ticks of public healt...

Mycobacterium avium subsp. paratuberculosis (MAP) is the causative agent of Johne's disease in ruminants, which has important health consequences for dairy cattle. The Regional Dairy Quality Management Alliance (RDQMA) project is a multistate research program involving MAP isolates taken from three intensively studied commercial dairy farms in the...

What is already known about this topic? Diagnostic tests and sample types for SARS-CoV-2 vary in sensitivity across the infection period. What is added by this report? We show that both RTqPCR (from nasal swab and saliva) and the Quidel SARS Sofia FIA rapid antigen tests peak in sensitivity during the period in which live virus can be detected in n...

Context: Phthalate exposure is associated with altered reproductive function, but little is known about associations of phthalate exposure with risk of hot flashes. Objective: To investigate associations of urinary phthalate metabolite levels with four hot flash outcomes in midlife women. Design: and Setting: A cross-sectional study of the fir...

Previously, quality of life (Qol) has been defined as an individual’s evaluation of a satisfactory life as a whole (i.e. physically, mentally, psychologically, and socially). Only a few studies have examined the racial differences between QoL and risk factors associated with health, demographics, and lifestyle in midlife women. Thus, the purpose of...

Bovine tuberculosis (BTB) is a zoonotic bacterial infection caused by Mycobacterium bovis and is characterized by the development of granulomatous lesions in the lymph nodes, lungs and other tissues. It poses serious public health impacts and food security challenges to the agricultural sector in terms of dairy and meat productions. In Ethiopia, BT...

Modeling vector-borne diseases is best conducted when heterogeneity among interacting biotic and abiotic processes is captured. However, the successful integration of these complex processes is difficult, hindered by a lack of understanding of how these relationships influence disease transmission across varying scales. West Nile virus (WNV) is the...

Background Increasing uncertainty and variability in weather due to climate change puts enormous stress on the sustainability of agricultural communities in several parts of the continental United States. Rural agriculture-based communities, such as those in North Carolina, Nebraska, and Illinois are particularly vulnerable to the impacts of floodi...