Robert B. Tesh, MD

Robert B. Tesh, MD, MS
Adjunct Professor


Departments of Pathology and Microbiology & Immunology
Member, Center for Biodefense and Emerging Infectious Diseases
Center for Tropical Diseases
Institute for Human Infections and Immunity

Phone: (409) 747-2431
Cell: (409) 370-2469
Email: rbtesh@utmb.edu

  • My primary interests are the epidemiology and pathogenesis of arthropod-borne and zoonotic viral diseases. Other interests include viral discovery and characterization of novel viruses as well as vector biology and factors affecting vector competence of biting insects. For 27 years, I was director/curator of the World Reference Center of Emerging Viruses and Arboviruses (WRCEVA).
  • BS Franklin & Marshall College, Lancaster PA Zoology 1957
    MD Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, PA Medicine 1961
    Intern San Francisco Gen. Hosp., SF, CA Rotating 1961-62
    Resident Gorgas Hospital, Panama C.Z. Pediatric 1962-63
    Post-Doctoral Fellow Tulane Univ. School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA
    		 Pediatric
    Infectious Diseases
    		 1965-67
    MS Tulane Univ. School of Medicine, New Orleans, LA Epidemiology 1967
  • 1996 Fellow American Assoc. Advancement of Science
    2002 Researcher of the Year, Dept. of Pathology, UTMB
    2004 Martin Luther King, Jr. Service Award, UTMB
    2005 George Dock Distinguished Professor of Pathology
    2009 Richard M. Taylor Award, Amer. Committee Arthropod-borne Viruses
    2009 Eagleton Lecture Award, Amer. Biological Safety Assoc.
    2010  Faculty Research Award, Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences, UTMB
    2011 John S. Dunn Distinguished Chair in Biodefense
    2016 William C. Gorgas Merit Award, Gorgas Memorial Institute, Panama, RP
  • American Association of the Advancement of Science
    American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene
    American Society for Microbiology
    American Committee on Arthropod-Borne Viruses
    Entomologic Society of America
    Society for Vector Ecology
    1. TESH RB, Schneidau JD:Primary cutaneous histo­plasmosis.New Engl J Med 275:597‑599, 1966.
    2. TESH RB, Chaniotis BN, Johnson KM:Vesicular stomatitis virus (Indiana serotype): Transovarial transmission by phlebotomine sand flies.Science 175: 1477­-1479, 1972.
    3. TESH RB, Gajdusek DC, Garruto RM, Cross JH, Rosen L:The distribution and prevalence of group A arbo­virus neutralizing antibodies among human populations in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.Am J Trop Med Hyg 24: 664‑675, 1975.
    4. TESH RB, Saidi S, Javadian E, Loh P, Nadim A:Isfahan virus, a new Vesiculovir­us infecting humans, gerbils and sand flies in Iran.Am J Trop Med Hyg 26: 299‑306, 1977.
    5. TESH RB:A method for the isolation of dengue viruses, using mosquito cell cultures.Am J Trop Med Hyg 28: 1053‑1059, 1979.
    6. Ribeiro JMC, Vachereau A, Modi GB, TESH RB:A novel vasodilatory peptide from the salivary glands of the sand fly Lutzomyia longipalpis.Science 243: 212‑21­4, 1989.
    7. Walters LL, Modi GB, Chaplin GL, TESH RB:Ultrastructural development of Leishmania chagasi in its vector, Lutzomyia longipalpis (Diptera: Psychodidae).Am J Trop Med Hyg 41: 295‑317, 1989.
    8. Manzione N de, Salas RA, Paredes H, Godoy O, Rojas L, Araoz F, Fulhorst CF, Ksiazek TG, Mills JN, Ellis BA, Peters CJ, TESH RB:Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever:clinical and epidemiologic studies of 165 cases.Clin Infect Dis 26: 308-313, 1998.
    9. TESH RB, Watts DM, Russell K, Damodaran C, Calampa C, Cabezas C, Ramirez G, Vasquez B, Hayes CG, Rossi CA, Powers AM, Hice CL, Chandler LJ, Cropp BC, Karabatsos N, Roehrig JT, Gubler DJ.Mayaro virus disease:an emerging mosquito-borne zoonosis in tropical South America.Clin Infect Dis 28: 67-73, 1999.
    10. Fulhorst CF, Ksiazek TG, Peters CJ, TESH RB.Experimental infection of the cane mouse Zygodontomys brevicauda (family Muridae) with Guanarito virus (Arenaviridae), the etiologic agent of Venezuelan hemorrhagic fever.J Infect Dis 180: 966-969, 1999.
    11. TESH RB, Guzman H, Travassos da Rosa APA, Vasconcelos PFC, Dias LB, Bunnell JE, Zhang H, Xiao S-Y.Experimental yellow fever virus infection in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus).1.Virologic, biochemical and immunologic studies.J Infect Dis 183:1431-1436, 2001.
    12. Xiao S-Y, Zhang H, Guzman H, TESH RB.Experimental yellow fever virus infection in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus).II. Pathology.J Infect Dis 183:1437-1444, 2001.
    13. Xiao S-Y, Guzman H, Zhang H, Travassos da Rosa AP, TESH RB.West Nile virus infection in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus): a model of West Nile encephalitis.Emerg Infect Dis 7: 714-721, 2001.
    14. Ratterree MS, Gutierrez RA, Travassos da Rosa APA, Dille JB, Beasley DW, Bohm RP, Desai SM, Didier PJ, Bikenmeyer LG, Dawson GJ, Leary TP, Schochetmann G, Phillippi-Falkenstein, Arroyo J, Barrett ADT, TESH RB.Experimental infection of rhesus macaques with West Nile virus:level and duration of viremia and kinetics of the antibody response.J Infect Dis 189: 669-676, 2004.
    15. TESH RB, Watts DM, Sbrana E, Siirin M, Popov VL, Xiao S-Y.Experimental infection of ground squirrels (Spermophilus tridecemlineatus) with monkeypox virus.Emerg Infect Dis 10:1563-1567, 2004.
    16. TESH RB, Siirin M, Guzman H, Travassos da Rosa AP, Wu X, Duan T, Lei H, Nunes MR, Xiao S-Y.Persistent West Nile virus infection in the golden hamster (Mesocricetus auratus): studies on its mechanism and possible implications for other flavivirus infections.J Infect Dis 192:287-295, 2005.
    17. Nasar F, Palacios G, Gorchakov R, Guzman H, Travassos da Rosa AP, Savji N, Popov VL, Sherman MB, Lipkin WI, TESH RB, Weaver SC. Eilat virus, a unique Alphavirus with host range restricted to insects by RNA replication. Proc Nat Acad Sci 109:14622-14627, 2012.
    18. Vasilakis N, Forrester N, Palacios G, Nasar F, Savji N, Rossi S, Guzman H, Wood T, Popov V, Gorchakov R, Haddow A, Watts D, Travassos da Rosa A, Weaver S, Lipkin WI, TESH RB. Negevirus, a proposed newtaxon of insect-specific viruses with wide geographic distribution. J Virol 87:2475-2488, 2013.
    19. Yu XJ, TESH RB. The role of parasitic mites in the transmisison and maintenance of Hantaan virus (Bunyaviridae: Hantavirus). J Infect Dis 210:1693-1699, 2014.
    20. Vasilakis N, TESH RB. Insect-specific viruses and their potential impact onarbovirus transmission. Curr Opin Virol 15: 69-74, 2015
    21. Thangamani S, Huang J, Hart CE, Guzman H, TESH RB. Vertical transmission of Zika virus in Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Am J Trop Med Hyg. 95:1169-1173, 2016.
    22. Faria NR, Azevedo Rdo S, Kraemer MU, Souza R, Cunha MS, Hill SC, Thézé J, Bonsall MB, Bowden TA, Rissanen I, Rocco IM, Nogueira JS, Maeda AY, Vasami FG, Macedo FL, Suzuki A, Rodrigues SG, Cruz AC, Nunes BT, Medeiros DB, Rodrigues DS, Nunes Queiroz AL, da Silva EV, Henriques DF, Travassos da Rosa ES, de Oliveira CS, Martins LC, Vasconcelos HB, Casseb LM, Simith Dde B, Messina JP, Abade L, Lourenço J, Carlos Junior Alcantara L, de Lima MM, Giovanetti M, Hay SI, de Oliveira RS, Lemos Pda S, de Oliveira LF, de Lima CP, da Silva SP, de Vasconcelos JM, Franco L, Cardoso JF, Vianez-Júnior JL, Mir D, Bello G, Delatorre E, Khan K, Creatore M, Coelho GE, de Oliveira WK, TESH R, Pybus OG, Nunes MR, Vasconcelos PF. Zika virus in the Americas: Early epidemiological and genetic findings. Science. 352(6283):345-349. 2016.