New dissertation within One Health: We congratulate Linda Ernholm!
Last changed: 10 October 2024
Recently, Linda Ernholm successfully defended her thesis. We took the opportunity to ask some questions about her research and future plans.
Who are you? Could you give a short presentation of yourself and your research area?
"My name is Linda Ernholm, and I recently defended my thesis: Wild boar at the farm gate, infectious diseases and epidemiology at the wildlife-livestock interface. Disease transmission between wildlife and livestock has gained increased attention over the last few decades. Growing wild boar populations both in Sweden and in the rest of Europe, the situation with African swine fever in northern Europe, and the detection of Salmonella Choleraesuis in Swedish wild boar actualised the need to further understand possible contact routes between wild boar and domestic pigs in Sweden."
What is your research about, and how is it linked to One Health?
"My research has been focused on the interface between wild boar and domestic pigs and the possible disease transmission between the populations. It has involved Salmonella-surveillance in wild boar, studies on wild boar presence in the vicinity of commercial pig farms, as well as hunters’ attitudes and practices in wildlife disease surveillance and management. I’d say that the wildlife-livestock interface is integral to the One Health concept. Human actions may facilitate disease spillover between domestic and wild populations, leading to increased human or animal health risks, or disease agents spreading to the environment."
How can your research contribute to a more sustainable world – what impact at the societal level can the results contribute to?
"An increased knowledge of possible contact routes between wild boar and domestic pigs may support the work to reduce disease spillover between these wild and domestic populations, which is beneficial in many ways – both health aspects and economical."
What are your plans now after your PhD?
"The wildlife-livestock interface will continue to be a topical issue. This PhD project was shared between SVA and SLU, and I will return to SVA to keep working on these questions both in research and implementing the knowledge in the risk assessing role."
We wish Linda the best of luck in her future career!