Epidemiology & Public Health

Biography

João R. Mesquita (D.V.M., M.Sc.; Ph.D.) is a Professor at the Polytechnic Institute of Viseu where he teaches topics within Infectious Diseases for more than 10 years. On the past decade he has focused on Virology, where he has published 44 papers in Scopus indexed Journals. He has won several scientific prizes from different societies and conferences, where he has presented numerous oral and poster presentations. His research interests are focused on animal and human virology, mainly on zoonotic viruses, with special interest on surveillance tools and epidemiology.

Research Interest

The focus of my research is the epidemiology of emerging viruses aiming to understand disease emergence, prevention, control, and elimination, while integrating the concept of One Health. Many emerging viral diseases are linked to increasing contact between humans and animals, and the intensification and incorporation of food production, which often lead to cross-species episodes resulting in facilitated pathogenicity and notable increase in incidence. Most emergent viruses can be categorized as zoonotic with the clear advantage of possibly having several natural reservoirs for the disease, warranting viral epidemiology studies in multi-species. As such I have been performing both molecular and serological surveillance studies mainly dedicated on enteric viruses such as norovirus and hepatitis E virus in a wide array of domestic and wild animals, as well as in humans.