Sophie Molia
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Sophie is a veterinary epidemiologist at CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development). She is currently based in Bamako, Mali, working on several epidemiological projects on avian influenza in Africa, whilst completing her PhD on a part-time basis under the supervision of Prof. Dirk Pfeiffer.
Biography
Sophie graduated from Toulouse Veterinary School in France in 1998 and carried on with a three-year specialisation degree in Animal Health in Tropical Countries, which involved field work in Sri Lanka and Cambodia. She then completed a Master in Preventive Veterinary Medicine at the University of California at Davis, USA, and was subsequently hired as a veterinary epidemiologist by CIRAD (French Agricultural Research Centre for International Development, www.cirad.fr).
Her duties for CIRAD have led her to develop research and control projects for transboundary animal diseases in a wide array of countries in the Caribbean, Asia and Africa. Since January 2008, Sophie has been based in Bamako, Mali, conducting research on avian influenza and Newcastle disease in Africa. She enrolled at RVC as a part-time PhD student in October 2008.
Research
Sophie’s main area of interest is diseases at the interface between humans, domestic animals and wildlife in developing countries. She has conducted studies on the role of buffaloes in the epidemiology of foot and mouth disease in Sri Lanka, on Lyssavirus infection in Cambodian bat populations, and on Bartonella infection in African free-ranging lions and cheetahs. While working within the Caribbean Animal Health Network (www.caribvet.net), she was involved in surveillance and control projects for West Nile fever, tick-borne diseases, and classical swine fever.
Since 2007, Sophie has been designing and coordinating several research projects on avian influenza and Newcastle disease in Africa (http://avian-influenza.cirad.fr), including an FAO project aiming at identify risk factors for the introduction, maintenance and spread of HPAI H5N1 in Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Egypt, Ivory Coast, Niger, Nigeria, and Sudan, and the Malian component of a project funded by the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on the eco-epidemiology of avian influenza and Newcastle disease in Southern countries (Mauritania, Mali, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Zimbabwe and Vietnam).
Teaching
Sophie is teaching several classes for the epidemiosurveillance module of the Master “Animal Health and Epidemiosurveillance in Tropical Regions” co-organised by CIRAD in Montpellier, France (http://www.cirad.fr/ur/formation_elevage/node_43/master_saeps).
She is also supervising undergraduate and Master students from France and Mali, and is regularly involved in training courses organised by FAO, OIE, or AU-IBAR for staff of the veterinary services in developing countries.
Selected Publications
Molia S, Kamissoko B, Sidibé MS, Diakite A, Diall M, N'Diaye MR. Deficient reporting in avian influenza surveillance, Mali. Emerg Infect Dis (18):691-693
Molia S, Samaké K, Diarra A, Sidibé MS, Doumbia L, Camara S, Kanté S, Kamissoko B, Diakité A, Gil P, Hammoumi S, Servan de Almeida R, Albina E, Grosbois V. Avian influenza and Newcastle disease in three risk areas for H5N1 highly pathogenic avian influenza in Mali. Avian Dis (55)4 650-658
Cattoli G, Fusaro A, Monne I, Molia S, LeMenach A, Maregeya B, Nchare A, Bangana I, Garba Maina A, N’Goran Koffi JN, Thiam H, Bezeid OEM, Salviato A, Nisi R, Terregino C, Capua I. Emergence of a new genetic lineage of Newcastle disease virus in West and Central Africa - Implications for diagnosis and control. Vet Microbiol 2010 (142) 168-176
Molia S, Traoré A, Gil P, Hammoumi S, Lesceu S, Servan de Almeida R, Albina E, Chevalier V. Avian influenza in backyard poultry of Mopti region, Mali. Trop Anim Health Prod 2010 (42) 807-09
Molia S, Lapeyre S, Sidibé MS, Sissoko KD, N’Diaye MR, Diall M, Doumbia L. Semi-quantitative evaluation of the epidemiosurveillance network for highly pathogenic avian influenza in Mali. Epidémiol et santé anim 2010 (57) 91-103
Pradel J, Chalvet Monfray K, Molia S, Vachiéry N, Rousteau A, Imbert D, Martinez D, Sabatier P, Lefrançois T. Risk factors for West Nile virus seropositivity of equids in Guadeloupe. Prev Vet Med 2009 (92) 71-78
Molia S, Frebling M, Vachiéry N, Pinarello V, Petitclerc M, Rousteau A, Martinez D, Lefrançois T. Amblyomma variegatum in cattle in Marie Galante, French Antilles: Prevalence, control measures, and infection by Ehrlichia ruminantium. Vet Parasitol 2008 153(3-4):338-346
Lefrançois T, Blitvich B, Pradel J, Molia S, Vachiéry N, Pallavicini G, Marlenee N, Zientara S, Petitclerc M, Martinez D. West Nile virus surveillance in Guadeloupe: circulation level and spatial repartition, 2002 - 2004. Emerg Infect Dis 2005 11(7):1100-1103
Molia S, Chomel BB, Kasten RW, Leutenegger CM, Steele BR, Marker L, Martenson JS, Keet DF, Bengis RG, Peterson RP, Munson L, O’Brien SJ. Prevalence of Bartonella infection in free-ranging African lions (Panthera leo) and cheetahs (Acinonyx jubatus). Vet Microbiol 2004 (100) 31-41
Reynes JM, Molia S, Audry L, Hout S, Ngin S, Walston J, Bourhy H. Serologic evidence of lyssavirus infection among bats in Cambodia. Emerg Infect Dis 2004 10 (12):2231-2234