Associate Professor Louisiana State University
Dr. Christofferson is an international expert on emerging zoonotic and mosquito-borne viruses.
Dr. Christofferson’s research focuses on arbovirus ecology and epidemiology, examining how environmental conditions and mosquito biology drive transmission of Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and West Nile viruses. She blends vector-competence experiments, field mosquito surveillance, and climate-based modeling to predict outbreak risk and guide Gulf Coast public-health and control strategies.
1 min
LSU expert Dr. Rebecca Christofferson is available to speak with media about the first avian flu outbreaks of the season, including what’s driving the spread, potential risks to the public and what people should know as cases emerge across the country.
2 min
"The main vector in the US, Aedes albopictus, is known to have been there so it isn’t terribly surprising that we’d eventually have a case. The fact that is was a local transmission case – meaning that a mosquito transmitted it to someone who had not traveled outside the area – is a bit concerning and points to a couple of things: We need more surveillance for these types of viruses; the fact that it got here means likely someone who had traveled brought it back from their vacation The surveillance infrastructure via the CDC and federal funding has been gutted – which of course is problematic when we have these sorts of introductions occurring. These types of mosquitoes go a little quiet in the fall/winter because it gets too cool for them to be as active as say the summertime. They’re lucky it’s in the fall and not at the start of summer, where the weather would be more conducive to MORE transmission. HOWEVER, as weather patterns change from a combination of climate change and urban development (which creates more heated areas), we’re going to see the times that these mosquitoes are more active becoming longer – which will again mean more opportunities for transmission. Of course, in Louisiana, these mosquitoes are active for a lot of the year. We have good mosquito control, but anyone who sits outside will tell you that doesn’t eliminate biting (though imagine if we didn’t have it) we need to stay vigilant and support the systems that protect us: mosquito abatement, federal and state surveillance, and the science and research that supports our ability to recognize and respond to outbreaks." Dr. Christofferson's recent research publications in this area:
Never handle wildlife if you don't have to, particularly bats. Also, don't approach random animals whose vaccination status you don't know. Also get your pets vaccinated and encourage pet vaccination in your network.
Prophylaxis in treatment given before the disease presents. So someone who was at risk for having had a rabies exposure will often receive treatment - the vaccine and immunoglobulin shots - "just in case." This is because once someone starts to show signs of disease, rabies is almost always fatal. There is a vaccine against rabies for people, and anyone can get it. However, it is strongly recommended for animal workers like animal control, veterinary professionals and paraprofessionals, etc. people traveling to areas where rabies is endemic are often recommended to get the vaccines; as well as people who like to explore caves or other places with lots of bats. It is a three shot course and not cheap. But you need all three shots for it to be fully effective.
People who work with or near animals - pets or wildlife - are at risk. People who have had contact with a wild animal - in particular bats or raccoons - are also at risk. Anyone who has a broken skin contact with an animal with unknown vaccination status should seek immediate medical attention.
B.S.
2002
MApSt
2005
Ph.D.
2011
2022-2025
2021
Professorship awarded to one faculty annually at LSU for excellence in innovation and scholarship
2018
Excellent in research award for School of Veterinary Medicine
CNN
2024-12-18
“The cases across the US are a constellation of spillovers,” said Dr. Rebecca Christofferson, a virologist at Louisiana State University’s School of Veterinary Medicine. Experts still don’t understand exactly how these spillovers are happening and the specific factors that increase a person’s risk.
KPLC tv
2025-02-24
Rebecca Christofferson is an associate professor at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine who specializes in infectious disease transmission.
“In 2023, France actually rolled out a bird flu vaccine for their duck industry and saw great success there,” Christofferson said.
WBRZ-ABC tv
2024-12-17
BATON ROUGE — The Louisiana Department of Health announced its first confirmed human case of bird flu. The person, who is from southwestern Louisiana and is currently in the hospital, is one of 60 cases from around the country as of December 2024.
Of the 60 confirmed virus cases in humans, none of them have involved human-to-human transmission.
"There are spillover risks, and that is what we are seeing right now, which is when a virus comes from an animal population into the human population," said Dr. Rebecca Christofferson from LSU's Veterinarian School.
Medical Xpress online
2020-08-04
LSU Professors Stephania Cormier, a respiratory immunologist, and Rebecca Christofferson, an emerging viruses expert, have developed a saliva-based test to help track COVID-19 in K-12 school children and teachers in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.
225 Magazine online
2018-01-12
Rebecca Christofferson, Assistant Professor of Pathobiological Sciences with the Vector-borne Disease Laboratories at the LSU School of Veterinary Medicine and TEDxLSU 2018 speaker, investigates potentially deadly viruses transmitted through mosquitoes.
Much of Christofferson’s research focuses on how and when mosquitoes carry viruses to uncover the patterns that dictate why and when humans get sick. She is a leading researcher on the Zika virus, which has spread to more than 60 countries in South and Central America, as well as the United States.
2025-09-15
Arboviruses-short for "arthropod-borne viruses"-are transmitted to humans and animals by infected arthropods. Aedes mosquito-borne arboviruses such as dengue virus (DENV), Zika virus (ZIKV), and chikungunya virus (CHIKV) impose major public health burdens in Southeast Asia. The potential role of sylvatic reservoirs, such as macaques, in maintaining arboviral transmission remains unclear.
2024-11-11
This study examined how indoor and outdoor microclimates influence Zika (ZIKV) and chikungunya (CHIKV) virus infection dynamics in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes, which are known indoor-dwelling vectors.
2024
Bunyamwera virus (BUNV) (Bunyamwera orthobunyavirus) has been found in Sub-Saharan Africa and demonstrated recently as cocirculating with Rift Valley Fever Virus (RVFV). Little is known regarding the breadth of transmission modalities of Bunyamwera. Given its co-occurence with RVFV, we hypothesized the transmission system of BUNV shared similarities to the RVFV system including transmission by Ae. aegypti mosquitoes and environmentally mediated transmission through fomites and environmental contamination.
2024
Aedes aegypti are indoor-dwelling vectors of many arboviruses, including Zika (ZIKV) and chikungunya (CHIKV). The dynamics of these viruses within the mosquito are known to be temperature-dependent, and models that address risk and predictions of the transmission efficiency and patterns typically use meteorological temperature data. These data do not differentiate the temperatures experienced by mosquitoes in different microclimates, such as indoor vs. outdoor.
2024
The focus of this study was to identify risk factors for severe and critical COVID-19, evaluate local respiratory immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 infection, and develop a prognostic tool for COVID-19 severity using accessible early indicators.
2024
Rural Rwandan communities face health challenges for humans and animals, and the topography and climate of the Kirehe District of Rwanda put farmers at high risk for mosquito-borne diseases. Individuals from 92 Rwandan farms were surveyed about farm practices, as well as animal and human health histories between December 2017 and February 2018.
2023
West Nile Virus (WNV) has remained a persistent source of vector-borne disease risk in California since first being identified in the state in 2003. The geographic distribution of WNV activity is relatively widespread, but varies considerably across different regions within the state. Spatial variation in human WNV infection depends upon social-ecological factors that influence mosquito populations and virus transmission dynamics. Measuring changes in spatial patterns over time is necessary for uncovering the underlying regional drivers of disease risk.
