Dr. Igor Pajović

Biotechnical Faculty, University of Montenegro

Podgorica, Montenegro

Topics of interest: Vectors surveillance and control, risk assessment

BAVBD contribution:

- establishing and coordinating mosquito and arbovirus surveillance;

- the dissemination of knowledge related to vectors and the diseases they transmit;

- contribution to the development of regional risk maps for vectors and arboviruses;

- creation of standard field and urgent protocols;

- training for mosquito sampling;

- One Health Initiative promotion and integration of vector surveillance into public health policies; risk communication and public health messaging in vector-borne disease outbreaks

References:

- Georgios D. Mastronikolos, Apostolos Kapranas, George K. Balatsos, Charalampos Ioannou, Dimitrios P. Papachristos, Panagiotis G. Milonas, Arianna Puggioli, Igor Pajović, Dušan Petrić, Romeo Bellini, Antonios Michaelakis, Nikos T. Papadopoulos (2022): Quality Control Methods for Aedes albopictus Sterile Male Transportation. Insects 2022, 13, 179. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects13020179

- Verena Pichler, Beniamino Caputo, Vera Valadas, Martina Micocci, Cintia Horvath, Chiara Virgillito, Mustafa Akiner, Georgios Balatsos, Christelle Bender, Gilles Besnard, Daniel Bravo‑Barriga, Ruben Bueno‑Mari, Francisco Collantes, Sarah Delacour‑Estrella, Enkelejda Dikolli, Elena Falcuta, Eleonora Flacio, Ana L. Garcia‑Perez, Katja Kalan, Mihaela Kavran, Gregory L’Ambert, Riccardo P. Lia, Eduardo Marabuto, Raquel Medialdea, Rosario Melero‑Alcibar, Antonios Michaelakis, Andrei Mihalca, Ognyan Mikov, Miguel A. Miranda, Pie Muller, Domenico Otranto, Igor Pajovic, Dusan Petric, Maria Teresa Rebelo, Vincent Robert, Elton Rogozi, Ana Tello, Toni Zitko, Francis Schaffner, Joao Pinto and Alessandra della Torre (2022): Geographic distribution of the V1016G knockdown resistance mutation in Aedes albopictus: a warning bell for Europe. Parasites & Vectors 15, 280 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-022-05407-3

- Enkelejda Velo, Fabrizio Balestrino, Përparim Kadriaj, Danilo Oliveira Carvalho, Ahmadou Dicko, Romeo Bellini, Arianna Puggioli, Dusan Petrić, Antonios Michaelakis, Francis Schaffner, David Almenar, Igor Pajovic, Alfred Beqirllari, Migel Ali, Gjergji Sino, Elton Rogozi, Vjola Jani, Adelina Nikolla, Tanja Porja, Thanas Goga, Elena Fălcuă, Mihaela Kavran, Dubravka Pudar, Ognyan Mikov, Nadya Ivanova-Aleksandrova, Aleksandar Cvetkovikj, Muhammet Mustafa Akıner, Rados Mikovic, Lindita Tafaj, Silva Bino, Jeremy Bouyer and Wadaka Mamai (2022): A Mark-Release-Recapture Study to Estimate Field Performance of Imported Radio-Sterilized Male Aedes albopictus in Albania. Front. Bioeng. Biotechnol. 10:833698. https://doi.org/10.3389/fbioe.2022.833698

- Nil Rahola, Filiz Günay, Murat Öztürk, Bulent Alten, Hanan A. Aqeehal, Walid K. Saadawi, Taher Shaibi, Mihaela Kavran, Dušan Petrić, Jelena Mitrović, Igor Pajovic, Enkelejda Velo, Përparim Kadriaj, Elton Rogozi, Viola Jani, Arsen Manucharyan, Lusine Paronyan, Samir Sawalha, Youmna M'ghirbi, Ali Bouattour, Adel Rhim, Ahmed Ouni, Abdallah Samy, Shaimaa Abozeid, M'hammed Sarih, Najlaa Essaid, Soukaina Arich, Nikolina Sokolovska, Elizabeta Janceska, Kamal Eddine, Nabil Haddad, Renée Zakhia, Nesade Muja-Bajraktari, Kurtesh Sherifi, Majeda Arbaji, Jelena Marić, Violeta Santrac, Nato Dolidze, Philippe Boussès, Isra Deblauwe, Francis Schaffner, Vincent Robert (2022): Assessment of expertise in morphological identification of mosquito species (Diptera: Culicidae) using photomicrographs. Parasite, 29, 45. https://doi.org/10.1051/parasite/2022045

- Igor Pajović, Mihaela Kavran, Kristina Atanasova, Aleksandar Cvetkovikj (2022): Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus (Skuse, 1894) (Diptera: Culicidae) overwintering in Montenegro, North Macedonia and Serbia. Acta Zoologica Bulgarica, 75 (1), March 2023: 97-101. https://www.acta-zoologica-bulgarica.eu/2022/002621.pdf

- Georgios Balatsos, Arianna Puggioli, Vasileios Karras, Ioanna Lytra, George Mastronikolos, Marco Carrieri, Dimitrios P. Papachristos, Marco Malfacini, Angeliki Stefopoulou, Charalampos S. Ioannou, Fabrizio Balestrino, Jérémy Bouyer, Dušan Petrić, Igor Pajović, Apostolos Kapranas, Nikos T. Papadopoulos, Panagiotis G. Milonas, Romeo Bellini, Antonios Michaelakis (2021): Reduction in egg fertility of Aedes albopictus mosquitoes in Greece following releases of imported sterile males. Insects 2021, 12 (2), 110. https://doi.org/10.3390/insects12020110

- Kavran, M., Pajović, I., Petrić, D., Ignjatović‐Ćupina, A., Latinović, N., Jovanović, M., Quarrie, S.A. and Zgomba, M. (2020): Aquatain AMF efficacy on juvenile mosquito stages in control of Culex pipiens complex and Aedes albopictus. Entomol Exp Appl, 168: 148-157. https://doi.org/10.1111/eea.12884

- Romeo Bellini, Antonios Michaelakis, Dušan Petrić, Francis Schaffner, Bulent Alten, Paola Angelini, Carles Aranda, Norbert Becker, Marco Carrieri, Marco Di Luca, Elena Falcuta, Eleonora Flacio, Ana Klobučar, Christophe Lagneau, Enrih Merdić, Ognyan Mikov, Igor Pajović, Dimitrios Papachristos, Carla A. Sousa, Arjan Stroo, Luciano Toma, Marlen I. Vasquez, Enkelejda Velo, Claudio Venturelli, Marija Zgomba (2020): Practical management plan for invasive mosquito species in Europe: I. Asian tiger mosquito (Aedes albopictus). Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease, 35(2020), 101691-101697. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.tmaid.2020.101691

- Vit Dvorak, Ozge Erisoz Kasap, Vladimir Ivovic, Ognyan Mikov, Jovana Stefanovska, Franjo Martinkovic, Jasmin Omeragic, Igor Pajovic, Devrim Baymak, Gizem Oguz, Kristyna Hlavackova, Marketa Gresova, Filiz Gunay, Slavica Vaselek, Nazli Ayhan, Tereza Lestinova, Aleksandar Cvetkovikj, Darinka Klaric Soldo, Ivelina Katerinova, Simona Tchakarova, Ayda Yılmaz, Begum Karaoglu, Jose Risueno Iranzo, Perparim Kadriaj, Enkelejda Velo, Yusuf Ozbel, Dusan Petric, Petr Volf and Bulent Alten (2020): Sand flies (Diptera: Psychodidae) in eight Balkan countries historical review and region‑wide entomological survey. Parasites & Vectors 13, 573 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-020-04448-w

- Stéphanie Sherpa, Maya Guéguen, Julien Renaud, Michael G. B. Blum, Thierry Gaude, Frédéric Laporte, Mustafa Akiner, Bulent Alten, Carles Aranda, Hélène Barre‐Cardi, Romeo Bellini, Mikel Bengoa Paulis, Xiao‐Guang Chen, Roger Eritja, Eleonora Flacio, Cipriano Foxi, Intan H. Ishak, Katja Kalan, Shinji Kasai, Fabrizio Montarsi, Igor Pajović, Dušan Petrić, Rosa Termine, Nataša Turić, Gonzalo M. Vazquez‐Prokopec, Enkelejda Velo, Goran Vignjević, Xiaohong Zhou, Laurence Després (2019): Predicting the success of an invader: Niche shift versus niche conservatism. Ecol Evol. 2019; 9: 12658– 12675. https://doi.org/10.1002/ece3.5734.

- Frederic Jourdain, Abdallah M. Samy, Afrim Hamidi, Ali Bouattour, Bulent Alten, Chafika Faraj, David Roiz, Dusan Petric, Elisa Perez-Ramirez, Enkeledja Velo, Filiz Gunay, Golubinka Bosevska, Ibrahim Salem, Igor Pajovic, Jelena Marić, Khalil Kanani, Lusine Paronyan, Maria-Grazia Dente, Marie Picard, Marija Zgomba, M’hammed Sarih, Nabil Haddad, Oleksandr Gaidash, Roena Sukhiasvili, Silvia Declich, Taher Shaibi, Tatiana Sulesco, Zoubir Harrat, Vincent Robert (2019): Towards harmonisation of entomological surveillance in the Mediterranean area. PLoS Negl Trop Dis, 2019, 13(6): e0007314. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007314.

- Jourdain F, Picard M, Sulesco T, Haddad N, Harrat Z, Sawalha SS, Gunay F, Kanani K, Shaibi T, Akhramenko D, Sarih M, Velo E, Paronyan L, Pajovic I, Faraj C, Sikharulidze I, Putkaradze D, Maric J, Bosevska G, Janceska E, Bouattour A, Hamidi A, Sherifi K, Alten B, Petric D, Robert V. (2018): Identification of mosquitoes (Diptera: Culicidae): an external quality assessment of medical entomology laboratories in the MediLabSecure Network, Parasites & Vectors, 2018, 11: 553. doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3127-7.

- Dubravka Pudar, Dušan Petrić, Xavier Allène, Bulent Alten, Nazlı Ayhan, Aleksandar Cvetkovikj, Claire Garros, Teufik Goletić, Filiz Gunay, Kristyna Hlavackova, Aleksandra Ignjatović Ćupina, Mihaela Kavran, Tereza Lestinova, Bruno Mathieu, Ognyan Mikov, Igor Pajović, Ignace Rakotoarivony, Jovana Stefanovska, Slavica Vaselek, Almedina Zuko and Thomas Balenghien (2018): An update of the Culicoides (Diptera: Ceratopogonidae) checklist for the Balkans. Parasites & Vectors, 11:462. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13071-018-3051-x

- Mina Petrić, Branislava Lalić, Igor Pajović, Slavica Micev, Vladimir Đurđević and Dušan Petrić (2018): Expected changes of Montenegrin climate, impact on the establishment and spread of the Asian Tiger Mosquito (Aedes albopictus), and validation of the Model and Model-Based field sampling. Atmosphere, 2018, 9, 453; doi:10.3390/atmos9110453

- Pajovic, I., Petrić D., Bellini R., Pajović L. and Quarrie S. (2017):  First Record of Anoplophora glabripennis (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae) in Montenegro. Baltic Forestry, 2017 23(3): 706-710.

National patent:

Klopka za komarce - Žbun TiN-MNE. Accepted 30. October 2015., Reg.No. 02146 (Zavoda za intelektualnu svojinu Crne Gore).

Award:

“Most sucesssful scientist in Montenegro for year 2017” (Ministry of Science, Montenegro).

Projects:

- IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria: REGIONAL PROJECT RER2018027/RER5025 "Improving Early Detection and Rapid Response to Potential Outbreaks of Priority Animal and Zoonotic Diseases”. 2020-2022, counterpart from Montenegro

- IAEA - International Atomic Energy Agency, Vienna, Austria: REGIONAL PROJECT RER2018029/RER5026 "Enhancing the Capacity to Integrate Sterile Insect Technique in the Effective Management of Invasive Aedes Mosquitoes”. 2021-2023, counterpart from Montenegro

- COST Action CA20108: FAIR Network of micrometeorological measurements (FAIRNESS). 2021-2025; MC member

- COST Action CA21170: Prevention, anticipation and mitigation of tick-borne disease risk applying the DAMA protocol (PRAGMATICK). 2022-2026; MC member

- DG-SANCO/EAHC & DEVCO/EuropeAid project (EU Health Programme and the EU Instrument for Stability) "Preventing vector-borne diseases around the Mediterranean, Sahel and Black Sea regions by reinforcing an international network of laboratories and public health institutions - MediLabSecure3"; 2022-2024.