Enkelejda Dikolli

 

Enkelejda Dikolli

Medical Entomologist

Institute of Public Health

Email: dikollikela@gmail.com

 

 

 

 

 

VALIDATE Role:

Network Affiliate

 

Research Keywords:             

Vectors: sand flies, mosquitoes, ticks

 

Biography:

Enkelejda Dikolli (Velo) is a medical entomologist affiliated to the Department of Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases Control, Institute of Public Health, Tirana, Albania as head of the Vector Control Unit. She has obtained her PhD in Medical Entomology in 2005. Research interests include vector bio-ecology and control, with focus on mosquitoes, sand flies and ticks borne disease, impact of habitat management on vector-borne disease, including developing integrated management guidelines on mosquitoes; >20 years extensive field experience of vector ecology in Albania. Specific interests in Hyalomma, Ixodes and Rhipicephalus ticks, invasive Aedes mosquitoes, WNV and Culex, and P.neglectus and Leishmaniasis,  mosquito, tick and sand flies ecology. She is member of the EU ECDC/EFSA VectorNet project, EU ECDC VBORNET, EU-COST EurNegVec and participates in several international networks and technical cooperation’s such as, EU-MediLabSecure IAEA RER5022, RER5026 and INT5051.  She was part of the Mosquitoes Working Group in the FP7 EDENext project. She has contributed on the Albanian mosquito monitoring and control programme, including the new innovative methods on Aedes invasive species control in collaboration with IAEA. She has been the Technical Director of the Regional Training Course on “Field procedures for mosquito population surveillance, detection and quantification”, organized in Tirana 2017, by SECID in cooperation with IAEA and IPH. In 2018, she participated in the “AedesRisk project" carried out by SECID in cooperation with IPH, IRD and ECDC.

In 2019 she was nominated MC for Albania for the EU-COST AIM cost action (a program aimed to establish a network across Europe to address the risk of introduction and spread of invasive Aedes mosquitoes and their diseases). She is coordinating the Entomological Monitoring Group for the Quality Control of the Mosquitoes Surveillance and Control Program in urban and coastal areas 2014-2021.

 

Key Publications:

Bellini R, Michaelakis A, Petrić D, Schaffner F, Alten B, Angelini P, Aranda C, Becker N, Carrieri M, Di Luca M, Fălcuţă E, Flacio E, Klobučar A, Lagneau C, Merdić E, Mikov O, Pajovic I, Papachristos D, Sousa CA, Stroo A, Toma L, Vasquez MI, Velo E, Venturelli C, Zgomba M. Practical management plan for invasive mosquito species in Europe: I. Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus)Travel Med Infect Dis. 2020 May-Jun;35:101691. doi: 10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101691

 

Dvorak V, Kasap OE, Ivovic V, Mikov O, Stefanovska J, Martinkovic F, Omeragic J, Pajovic I, Baymak D, Oguz G, Hlavackova K, Gresova M, Gunay F, Vaselek S, Ayhan N, Lestinova T,  Cvetkovikj A, Soldo DK, Katerinova I, Tchakarova S, Yılmaz A, Karaoglu B, Iranzo JR, Kadriaj P, Velo E, Ozbel Y, Petric D, Volf P, Alten B Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in eight Balkan countries: historical review and region-wide entomological survey. Parasit Vectors. 2020; 13: 573. Published online 2020 Nov 11. doi: 10.1186/s13071-020-04448-w

 

Bino S, Velo E, Kadriaj P, Kota M, Moureau G, Lamballerie X, Bagramian A, Charrel RN, Ayhan N. 2019. Detection of a Novel Phlebovirus (Drin Virus) from Sand Flies in Albania.Viruses. 2019 May 23;11(5). pii: E469;  https://doi.org/10.3390/v11050469.PMID:31126034 Free PMC Article

 

Tisseuil C, Velo E, Bino S, Kadriaj P, Mersini K, Shukullari A, Simaku A, Rogozi E,  Caputo B, Ducheyne E, della Torre A, Reiter P, Gilbert M. (2018) “Forecasting the spatial and seasonal dynamic of Aedes albopictus oviposition activity in Albania and Balkan countries”. PLoS Negl Trop Dis. 2018 Feb; 12(2): e0006236. doi:  10.1371/journal.pntd.0006236

 

Velo E, Bongiorno G, Kadriaj P, Myrseli T, Crilly J, Lika A, Mersini K, Di Muccio T, Bino S, Gramiccia M, Gradoni L, Maroli M. (2017) The current status of phlebotomine sand flies in Albania and incrimination of Phlebotomus neglectus (Diptera, Psychodidae) as the main vector of Leishmania infantum. PLoS ONE 12(6): e0179118. https://doi. org/10.1371/journal.pone.0179118

 

Papa A, Velo E, Kadiaj P, Tsioka K, Kontana A, Kota M, Bino S. (2017) Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever virus in ticks collected from livestock in Albania. Infect Genet Evol. 2017 Oct;54:496-500. doi: 10.1016/j.meegid.2017.08.017. Epub 2017 Aug.

 

Ayhan N, Velo E, de Lamballerie X, Kota M, Kadriaj P, Ozbel Y, Charrel R., and Bino Sa. (2016). Detection of Leishmania infantum and a Novel Phlebovirus (Balkan Virus) from Sand Flies in Albania. Vector-Borne and Zoonotic Diseases. December 2016, 16(12): 802-806. https://doi.org/10.1089/vbz.2016.2002

 

Velo E, Kadriaj P, Mersini K, Shukullari A, Manxhari B, Simaku A, Hoxha A, Caputo B, Bolzoni L, Rosà R., Bino S., Reiter P. and della Torre A. (2016). “Enhancement of Aedes albopictus collections by ovitrap and sticky adult trap”. Parasites & Vectors (2016) 9:223.

 

Alten, B., Ozbel, Y., Ergunay, K., Erisoz Kasap, O., Antoniou, M., Velo, E., Prudhomme, J., Molina, R., Bañuls, A-L., Schaffner, F., Hendrickx, G., Van Bortel, W. & Medlock, JM., 2015, Sampling strategies for phlebotomine sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in Europe. Bulletin of Entomological Research. © Cambridge University Press. Page 1 of 15.

 

Papa A, Velo E, Bino S (2011): “A novel phlebovirus in Albanian sandflies”. Clin Microbiol Infect. 2011 Apr; 17(4):585-7.

 

Papa A, Velo E, Papadimitriou E, Cahani G, Kota M, Bino S. “Ecology of the Crimean Congo Haemorrhagic Fever Endemic Area in Albania”. Vector Borne Zoonotic Dis. 2009 Dec; 9(6):713-6.

 

E. Velo, A. Paparisto, G. Bongiorno, T. Di Muccio, C. Khoury, S. Bino, M. Gramiccia, L. Gradoni and M. Maroli.: “Entomological and parasitological study on phlebotomine sandflies in Central and Northern Albania”, PARASITE, 2005 March; 12 (1): 45-9.

 

E. Velo, S. Bino, Gj. Kuli-Lito, K. Pano, L. Gradoni and M. Maroli.: “Recrudescence of visceral leishmaniasis in Albania: retrospective analysis of cases during 1997 to 2001 and results of an entomological survey carried out during 2001 in some districts”, Trans R Soc Trop Med Hyg. 2003 May-Jun; 97(3):288-90.

 

E. Velo, S. Bino, L.Gradoni, M. Maroli.: “Recreducence of visceral leishmaniasis in Albania: retrospective analysis of recent cases (1997-2001) and results of an entomological survey in some districts”, Parasitologia, 2002 June; 44 (1): 191.

 

 Books

“Guideline on Vectors and Rodents Control in Albania”. Enkelejda Velo, Elton ROGOZI, Lindita TAFAJ, Silva BINO, June 2013. http://www.ishp.gov.al/multimedia/Udhezues%20Mbi%20Kontrollin%20e%20Vekt...