This news release was issued by the UF News Bureau on Monday, Nov. 23 for the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS). The principle investigators, Roxanne Connelly and Jonathan Day, are also EPI Members.

GAINESVILLE, Fla. --- University of Florida mosquito researchers are watching with a wary eye as dengue virus returns to the state after more than 50 years.

Excitement is in the air as the Emerging Pathogens Institute gears up to move into our newly completed 80,000 square-foot facility on UF's campus. EPI's Administrative Team will be settled in to their new office suite by early next week, and the building-wide move should be complete by December 14.

The new EPI facility. Photo credit: Ray Carson/UF News Bureau.

On Oct. 20 at noon, EPI Director Glenn Morris appeared on the live TV news show, Your Turn, hosted by Kathy Fountain and broadcast by FOX13 out of Tampa Bay, Fla. Dr. Morris was invited on the show to discuss the controversy and misconceptions surrounding the swine flu and seasonal flu vaccines. He worked to dispel myths that the vaccines are unsafe, and to spread the message that vaccination programs are one of the great success stories of modern public health and medicine.

EPI Investigator Andy Tatem is leading a new effort to create fine-resolution population maps of Africa which will be valuable to characterizing populations at risk for diseases such as malaria. Dubbed "AfriPop," the endeavor requires massive amounts of demographic data, satellite imagery and land cover data in order to create high-resolution maps for the whole continent. And the need for continent-scaled fine-resolution maps, according to Tatem, has never been greater.