Table 3. Key research priorities under each of the barriers that could be targeted to prevent KFD spillover to humans (Fig 1) and how these would inform and improve existing management strategies (a) and facilitate the development and future implementation of integrated, ecological interventions in the long term (b).

Research priority	(a) Refines current management or surveillance (short term)	(b) Facilitates future ecological interventions (long term)
Barrier: Preventing tick bites on people through personal protective measures
1. Systematically review and test the efficacy of natural repellents being used against ticks by people in the Western Ghats alongside chemical repellents recommended by the Indian Government and by WHO		X
2. Develop standard assays, including in vivo and in vitro toxicity tests, to assess safety and efficacy of repellents in the laboratory and under field conditions against local tick vector species	X	X
3. Determine whether ticks survive washing and drying of clothes and then pose a risk to humans through rigorous experiments with different washing and drying regimes	X
Barrier: Vector density, distribution, habitats, and behaviour
4. Quantify abundance and infection rates of tick vector species across different habitats within the agroforest mosaic (integrate into stratified tick surveillance)	X	X
5. Determine whether cattle are amplifying and spreading tick species or acting to dilute infection by comparing tick burdens and KFDV infection rates on cattle, wildlife hosts, and people, in settings varying in host densities	X	X
6. Quantify abundance and infection rates of ticks found in different types of dry leaf litter, used for animal fodder and bedding, under different treatments in villages	X	X
Barrier: Vector host associations: Contact rates with people
7. Quantify effectiveness of different acaricide formulations, doses, and frequencies of application in reducing tick burdens on cattle, for those species involved in KFDV transmission and for natural as well as chemical repellents	X
8. Determine whether acaricide resistance is widespread in tick populations in India, in tick species involved in KFDV transmission, for acaricides applied both to animals and to the habitat		X
Barrier: Human activities in ecosystems
9. Quantify rate of contact between people and ticks during different activities in and around the forest	X	X
Barrier: Pathogen prevalence, infection intensity in reservoirs, and pathogen availability to vectors
10. Determine role of dead and dying monkeys in generating hotspots of transmission: quantify burdens, age structure, feeding history, and infection rates of ticks found on dead and dying monkeys, small mammals, and nearby habitats and people at the same time as measuring host infection levels	X	X
11. Determine role of live monkeys in transmission through infection of larvae via systemic circulation and/or supporting co-feeding between nymphs and larvae: quantify burdens, age structure, feeding history (via blood meal analysis), and infection rates of ticks found on live monkeys, small mammals, and nearby habitats and people at the same time as measuring host infection levels		X
12. Determine role of small mammals in transmission through infection of larvae via systemic circulation and/or supporting co-feeding between nymphs and larvae: quantify burdens, age structure, feeding history, and infection rates of ticks found on live monkeys, small mammals, and nearby habitats and people		X
13. Determine whether sequence data can be used to elucidate spatial and temporal diversity in KFD, whether such diversity is linked to vector or hosts, and to infer spatial movement of KFD in order to better understand transmission and spatial scale of risk		X
Barrier: Reservoir density, distribution, habitats, and behaviour
14. If monkeys are confirmed as important amplifying hosts for KFDV and contributing to transmission risk via infected ticks to humans, quantify their habitat associations, movement rates, and interactions with people across agroforest landscapes	X	X
15. If small mammals are confirmed as important reservoirs for KFDV and contribute to transmission to humans, quantify their habitat associations, movement rates, and interactions with people across agroforest landscapes	X	X
Barrier: Susceptibility of spillover host
16. Investigate social and cultural barriers to uptake of the current and potential future improved vaccines across the range of affected communities in South India
17. Test the efficacy in inducing protective immunity and assess duration of immunoprotection for the current vaccine
18. Investigate the potential efficacy of novel vaccines and alternative vaccines such as those available for closely related viral infections
19. Develop correlative and mechanistic predictive models of social, environmental, and ecological factors influencing spillover to better target vaccination and surveillance in the landscape

KFD, Kyasanur Forest Disease; KFDV, Kyasanur Forest Disease Virus; WHO, World Health Organization.