Category: Entomology and Wildlife Ecology
Meet our new faculty: Jennifer K. Peterson
December 08, 2023 Written by Katie Peikes | Jeremy Wayman
There is a common practice among the general population to squish or swat bugs.
For Jennifer K. Peterson, a lot of her work educates people that the very bug she studies should be picked up and put into a bag, not squashed on the scene.
鈥淚 always have to convince my family not to kill bugs,鈥 Peterson said, with a chuckle.
Peterson, an assistant professor of medical entomology, is new to the 91原创 and one of 11 new faculty in the 91原创 College of Agriculture and Natural Resources (CANR), an unprecedented number of new faculty for the college. She is a faculty member of the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology. A disease ecologist by trade, Peterson studies diseases spread by bugs that bite people, known as vector-borne diseases, and their relationship to the environment and public health.
In particular, Peterson studies , which can cause life-threatening cardiac and gastrointestinal conditions. Chagas disease is caused by a parasite, Trypanosoma cruzi, which is spread by an insect called a kissing bug. A species of this kissing bug resides in Delaware. Surprisingly, the species has never been studied here before, and Peterson is on a mission to study it in the First State for the first time. She also wants to educate the general public about the kissing bug, its parasite and the disease to best protect people.
It鈥檚 not likely that these bugs or Chagas disease are going to be the next pandemic. However, we still need to know what the risk is.
Assistant professor of medical entomology
Her top tip? If you see a kissing bug, a black bug with dark orange stripes around the edges, don鈥檛 squish it. Instead, trap it. Grab it with a glove, baggie or paper towel, then wash your hands immediately. Then email her at聽jkp@udel.edu聽with a picture and she鈥檒l tell you if it is a kissing bug or not 鈥 there are hundreds of lookalikes.聽
鈥淭hese bugs are unique because they spread the pathogen through their excrement,鈥 Peterson said. 鈥淵ou don't want to squish them, because that will spread the parasite everywhere.鈥澛
Kissing bugs infected with Trypanosoma cruzi (the Chagas parasite) generally spread the parasite to humans by defecating on or near to where they bite someone. The bite creates a crevice that allows the bug鈥檚 excrement with the parasite to seep into a person鈥檚 bloodstream. At least six million people around the world have been infected by Trypanosoma cruzi and have Chagas disease.聽
Peterson is interested in the Trympanosoma cruzi infection prevalence in kissing bugs and wild animals in Delaware. She takes a聽聽approach, focusing on kissing bugs and Trypanosoma cruzi and their connection to people, animals, the environment and public health. She wants to know which species the bugs are feeding on, who the animal hosts are, and where the bugs reproduce. And that can clue her into where the bug is in the state, for example, if it鈥檚 hanging out near Delaware homes.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not likely that these bugs or Chagas disease are going to be the next pandemic,鈥 Peterson said. 鈥淗owever, we still need to know what the risk is. To do that we need to identify where the bug is, what it鈥檚 eating, and where it reproduces so that we can educate the people in those areas on best practices when encountering a kissing bug.鈥澛
Peterson came to 91原创 in Fall 2023 and so far, she鈥檚 focused on setting up her research projects and laboratory as well as recruiting students to do research with her. In Spring 2024, she鈥檒l teach Conservation Biology (ENWC456), a course taken by undergraduate seniors. In 2025, she will teach a Medical Entomology course that she is currently designing.聽
鈥淢edical entomology isn鈥檛 going to be just about bugs,鈥 Peterson said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the intersection of public health,聽 planetary health, and the environment 鈥 the intersection of all these different parts of the world. We鈥檒l look at these issues through the framework of bugs that spread diseases.鈥澛
Peterson was drawn to the 91原创, and in particular, the Department of Entomology and Wildlife Ecology, because the department integrates wildlife ecology and entomology, rather than seeing them as two different and separate entities.聽
A native Oregonian, Peterson lived in the northeast for many years before moving back to the Beaver State in 2017. Missing the East Coast, she wanted to come back. The people she met at CANR during her interview made her feel welcomed.
鈥淓verybody I met was very down to earth and unpretentious,鈥 Peterson said. 鈥淎nd that stood out.鈥
As she鈥檚 been adjusting to life at 91原创, Peterson said her favorite spot to eat in Newark is Roots Natural Kitchen. She also enjoys grabbing a coffee from Brew Haha. But where you鈥檒l find her most often is in her office in Townsend Hall, as she prepares to teach in Spring 2024.
鈥淢y door is almost always open,鈥 Peterson said. 鈥淚鈥檇 love it if people stopped by and introduced themselves.鈥