To the bat cave

University of Delaware alumna Rebekah Kading's career has taken her to locations like Tanzania, Guatemala and Zambia, but it began on a hot summer day in a Delaware salt marsh.

As a College of Agriculture and Natural Resources undergraduate majoring in insect ecology and conservation, Kading spent summers working for the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC) Mosquito Control Section. At the time, she wasn't interested in mosquitos - she was just happy to have a summer job that allowed her to live at home and spend time outdoors while adding to her field experience.

The experience put the concept of One Health - a unified approach to balance and protect the health of people, animals and the environment - into perspective for Kading.

"I was out in the marsh doing my job and birdwatching to my heart's content," said Kading, an associate professor at Colorado State University who studies the ecology and transmission of vector-borne pathogens. Vectors are living organisms, like mosquitos, that can transmit viruses and bacteria between humans or from animals to humans. "I started thinking about how birds are reservoirs for Eastern equine encephalitis and St. Louis encephalitis virus. I realized the birds, mosquitoes and viruses, the people and environment - how the system fits together."