Spillover of infectious diseases at the wildlife-livestock-human interface poses a threat to public health, agriculture, and ecosystem stability. Free-ranging deer occupy shared landscapes with livestock, humans, and arthropod vectors, positioning them as potential sentinel hosts for pathogens. This project focuses on viruses of One Health relevance that circulate or pose risk in Colorado, including highly relevant livestock orbiviruses, zoonotic arboviruses, and high consequence animal pathogens, highlighting interconnected transmission routes shaped by environmental conditions, wildlife ecology, and human activity. Using a flexible serological platform, we will screen deer sera to assess prior exposure to these viruses. Sera with known orbivirus serostatus will provide the basis for internal assay validation, while detection of antibodies to arboviruses such as West Nile, Colorado tick fever, or Jamestown Canyon viruses will improve our understanding of enzootic transmission and spillover risk to humans. Antigens of foot-and-mouth disease virus will be included to support assay development and preparedness for livestock-relevant threats. Together, these efforts will generate a flexible surveillance resource applicable across animal species and settings. The project will be co-led by Drs. Imke Steffen and George Wittemyer. Dr. Steffen is an assistant professor with expertise in virology and serological assay development for humans and multiple animal species. Her team includes a research associate with extensive diagnostic experience who is trained in the lab’s serology platform. Dr. Wittemyer is a professor of wildlife biology with expertise in disease ecology, landscapelevel processes, and human-environment interactions. He researches how landscape features, human activity, and climate influence the demography, distribution, behavior, and movement of wildlife populations. His contributions ensure that serological findings are interpreted within an ecological and environmental framework. This project
implements the One Health approach by integrating wildlife surveillance, vector-borne disease ecology, livestock health preparedness, and human exposure risk into a single, scalable framework. By leveraging deer as sentinel hosts, the proposed work will strengthen cross-sector surveillance capacity, inform risk assessment, and support coordinated responses to emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases.