The Prairie Research Institute monitors threats to public health in our water supply and beyond. PRI scientists are investigating both well-known and emerging contaminants that could cause ecological and human health concerns. PRI research also helps Illinoisans enjoy the outdoors more safely by tracking tick and mosquito populations and the diseases they carry.
Disease
PRI research informs control and management strategies for infectious diseases that can impact humans, livestock, and wildlife. Illinois Natural History Survey scientists assess the distribution and abundance of disease-causing pathogens and their vectors, genetic and environmental factors underlying disease susceptibility, and the impact these infectious diseases have on populations. The findings guide Illinois’ efforts to control tick and mosquito populations and keep people and animals safer from tick- and mosquito-borne diseases like West Nile, Heartland virus, and Lyme disease.
The Medical Entomology Lab works with the Illinois Department of Public Health to conduct statewide surveillance of ticks and mosquitoes and perform in-depth studies on specific vector species. The lab is supported by two Illinois special funds, the Waste Tire Fund and the Emergency Public Health Fund.
Ticks
The Medical Entomology Lab has already dramatically improved our understanding of the geographic distribution of known ticks and tick-borne diseases in Illinois and has documented the presence of new disease-carrying ticks.
Since 2018, the lab has been tracking ticks throughout the state and testing them for pathogens. Over this period, scientists have collected 13,398 ticks from 87 of Illinois’ 102 counties, testing 9,297 ticks for multiple pathogens each.
An online interactive map makes it easy for all Illinoisans to access the lab’s tick surveillance data and find out which ticks have been found in their area.
The lab also maintains a community-engaged passive tick surveillance program, BiteMap, which is supported by the Illinois Lyme Association and the Illinois Department of Natural Resources. This approach can be used to support and add to active surveillance. Through this program, members of the public can submit ticks that will be identified and a subset of them are tested for a range of pathogens for surveillance purposes.
The lab offers a free tick identification service and tick surveillance training for staff from county health departments and forest preserve, park, and mosquito abatement districts.
Another tick surveillance and identification project, I-TICK, identifies ticks encountered and submitted by Illinoisans whose work or leisure takes them outdoors. The program seeks to better understand where and when ticks come in contact with people, pets, and livestock, and also examine which human activities affect the risk of finding a tick. I-TICK is a collaboration between PRI’s Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiology Lab and the U. of I. College of Veterinary Medicine.
Mosquitoes
The Medical Entomology Lab works with the Illinois Department of Public Health to conduct statewide surveillance of mosquitoes.
Using applied field and lab research, the research team generates ecological, genetic, behavioral, and epidemiological data that can guide infection prevention measures in Illinois and more effectively detect, prevent, and control mosquito-borne diseases.
Recent work has focused on detecting the distribution and abundance of the Asian tiger mosquito in Illinois. This mosquito can transmit diseases like La Crosse encephalitis, chikungunya, Zika, and dengue, and other disease agents, like dog heartworm, to domestic and wild animals. A 2020 study drew on data from a variety of sources to examine the first 30 years (1986–2015) of the tiger mosquito’s invasion of Illinois. The research team reported that by 2015 the tiger mosquito had been observed in 40 of Illinois’ 102 counties, with the majority of occurrences in the southern two-thirds of the state. The species was also detected in Cook County in 1987, though no additional sightings were reported until 2016. Field surveys in 2016 and 2017 revealed that the tiger mosquito has become established in nine additional counties in southeastern Illinois. These findings were published in Frontiers in Public Health in 2022.
Since insecticides can play an important role in reducing Illinoisans’ risk of exposure to mosquito-borne disease, the lab also monitors insecticide resistance levels in mosquito populations. This effort has found insecticide-resistant populations of invasive mosquitoes and the mosquito species primarily responsible for spreading West Nile virus.
Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiology Laboratory
The Wildlife Veterinary Epidemiology Lab studies infectious diseases and environmental contaminants that affect animals, including white-tailed deer, wild and domestic cats, bats, raccoons, opossums, river otters, woodchucks, skunks, weasels, and rodents.
The lab has evaluated the impacts, spread, range, management, and genetics related to diseases like toxoplasmosis, Lyme disease, leptospirosis, West Nile virus, chronic wasting disease, and epizootic hemorrhagic disease. The lab has also studied contaminants affecting aquatic mammals, such as river otters, and the fungal community of cave soils in Illinois that could contain pathogenic fungi affecting bats and other mammals that use these caves as homes.
Some of the lab’s current and long-term work is on two serious diseases affecting deer in Illinois: chronic wasting disease, a deadly and incurable neurological disease, and epizootic hemorrhagic disease, a vector-borne viral disease that affects hooved animals. The lab has collaborated with the Illinois Department of Natural Resources wildlife biologists since 2002 to help support the surveillance, management, and health protection of wild deer in Illinois.
The chronic wasting disease surveillance program helps inform the public about infected areas. The lab’s director, Dr. Nohra Mateus-Pinilla, has collaborated with landowners and hunters to evaluate changes in disease and factors that may contribute to the effectiveness of the state’s strategy in maintaining the low prevalence of the disease in herds. Early detection of chronic wasting disease helps inform management decisions to decrease disease spread and protect the health of the herd.
Contaminants
PRI investigates environmental contaminants, ways to prevent them from entering environments, and ways to protect the water quality and safety of Illinois residents.
Chloride
The Illinois State Water Survey’s groundwater quality database dates to the 1890s and contains data from tens of thousands of samples from across Illinois. In recent years, ISWS has done a number of county-wide water quality studies in several Illinois counties, gaining a regional picture of groundwater health. Data like this allows researchers to see a snapshot of water quality in an area during a certain time and analyze trends over time, such as with chloride contamination from road salt. Road salt application for snow and ice removal began after World War II, so the researchers can see how chloride levels in water increased with road salt use across the state.
Road salt is very soluble and can quickly infiltrate water resources. PRI research on chloride from road salt has resulted in more than 15 journal articles and numerous reports. In 2023, the Water Survey’s groundwater section received the Salt Symposium Chloride Reduction Leadership Award, which recognizes individuals and groups that have made a significant contribution to chloride reduction. In addition to serving as the state’s repository of groundwater records and data, the Water Survey also provides information to stakeholders and groups concerned about their groundwater quality.
As a result of increased awareness stemming from ISWS studies on chloride, some counties and municipalities are practicing more sensible salting practices to help reduce chloride concentrations in groundwater.
Coal ash
PRI provides the scientific expertise to reduce negative impacts from coal ash, a byproduct of burning coal that contains toxic elements that can contaminate drinking water, waterways, and air without proper management.
In 2020, PRI conducted a scientific review of the impacts and beneficial uses of coal ash, data relevant to coal ash management, and the evolving state and federal regulatory framework. Through this assessment, PRI identified:
- areas where additional risk assessment, data development, and agency collaboration would benefit Illinois’ people and environment,
- differences or gaps between federal and state policies, and
- the need for federal and state funding to support the study and mitigation of coal ash impoundment impacts in Illinois.
Excess nutrients
PRI scientists are studying ways to capture and reuse excess nutrients from agricultural production, preventing the excess nutrients from reaching waterways. Learn more about PRI’s excess nutrients research.
Lead
Lead exposure can cause serious damage to children’s developing brains, so working with public health and homeowners to mitigate lead risk in water is vital. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency sets regulations concerning the maximum allowable limits for lead in community systems, but these do not extend to water from private wells where users are responsible for their own water testing.
PRI scientists partnered with other universities and county health departments in 2019 to determine lead levels in homes with wells located in Jackson, Peoria, and Kane counties in Illinois. They found that 48% of sampled homes had measurable lead in their well water. Older homes were more likely to have detectable and elevated lead levels, especially older homes with corrosive groundwater. Water corrosivity varied in areas where higher-chloride winter deicers were used. The project received funding to expand to include testing remediation techniques and to add two more counties, Champaign and Whiteside.
Legionella
PRI’s Institutional Water Treatment team offers testing for Legionella pneumophila — the bacterium that causes Legionnaires’ disease — to facilities across Illinois with institutional water systems, such as cooling towers, chillers, and boilers. The bacterium can grow in purpose-built water systems, such as showerheads and sink faucets, cooling towers, spa pools, evaporative condensers, and large plumbing systems. The program supports facilities operated by Central Management Services, the Secretary of State, the departments of Corrections, Human Services, Natural Resources, Transportation, and Veterans Affairs, and a number of state universities.
PRI scientists are also investigating whether private wells are a potential source of Legionella pneumophila. Homes that rely on private wells for their water rarely use disinfection, so it is plausible that this bacterium could grow in their home plumbing systems. These considerations are especially important in underserved, disadvantaged, and rural communities.
Microplastics
PRI researchers are studying how microplastics move through the environment, how other contaminants combine with them, what their chemical makeup is, and their consequences for health and ecosystems.
In the environment, plastics do not biodegrade in the ways organic materials do. However, plastics do break down into smaller and smaller pieces. In addition to these fragments, plastics are also found in products like synthetic fabrics and exfoliating scrubs. Plastic pieces that are less than 5 millimeters in at least one dimension are considered microplastics.
Current and past microplastics research at PRI has investigated microplastics in groundwater, surface water, landfills, and the effects of microplastics on aquatic environments and co-contaminants.
Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS)
PFAS make up a class of more than 5,000 compounds that are water- and oil-repellant, reduce friction, and are resistant to degradation. PFAS have been available for a variety of uses, including in consumer products, since the 1940s, according to the EPA. PFAS are water-soluble, so they easily contaminate surface- and groundwaters and then move through the environment. PFAS have been found to have adverse effects on human health.
PRI scientists have found that PFAS can stick to microplastics that have made their way into waterways and are studying the uptake of PFAS by agricultural crops, as well as ways to reduce PFAS in the food chain.
PFAS are also difficult to address once released into the environment. Current PRI research funded by the U.S. Department of Defense aims to develop an innovative and cost-effective clean method to remove PFAS from water and completely destroy these forever chemicals.
Pharmaceuticals & Personal Care Products (PPCPs)
Applications of organic wastes, including biosolids and effluents from sewage treatment plants, benefit crop production in Illinois, boosting yields and profits and diverting waste from landfills. However, chemicals of environmental concern such as pharmaceutical and personal care products, or PPCPs, and PFAS from that waste are known to leach into groundwater and may be taken up by plants with implications for human health and the environment.
PPCPs come from cosmetics, personal hygiene products, and medications used by humans and for animals. These chemicals have been found to make their way into the environment by improper disposal and through wastewater systems.
PRI scientists have studied these contaminants for 15 years. They have investigated the environmental fate and transport of veterinary pharmaceuticals and animal hormones through large animal farm waste; how PPCPs degrade in soils, latch onto soil particles, or run off or leach into surface and groundwater; the removal efficacy of municipal wastewater treatment plant processes for chemicals of environmental concern; and effective, economical technologies to capture, remove and eliminate such chemicals.
These projects have implications for public health, from understanding pollution to assessing potential effects due to antibiotic-resistant bacteria. The results help to mitigate the negative impacts related to organic waste application in agricultural fields, thereby enhancing soil health, protecting water, and increasing our food security and safety.
Protecting water supply & safety
PRI analyzes groundwater issues, including water supply planning and water safety. PRI also leads nationwide training and outreach programs to help private well owners and small, rural water operators ensure that drinking water is safe. Learn more about PRI’s work and resources to support safe drinking water and sustainable water use.
Hazards
From extreme weather to abandoned coal mines, natural and manmade hazards can cause life-threatening emergencies and severe economic losses. Experts from PRI’s Illinois State Water Survey and Illinois State Geological Survey study these hazards, producing the long-term databases, maps, and other tools needed to reduce loss of life and financial burdens for victims. Learn more about how PRI research helps communities across Illinois.