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Viruses Jun 2021Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a zoonotic pathogen mainly found in East and Southeast Asia and transmitted by mosquitoes. The objective of this review is to... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV) is a zoonotic pathogen mainly found in East and Southeast Asia and transmitted by mosquitoes. The objective of this review is to summarize the knowledge on the diversity of JEV mosquito vector species. Therefore, we systematically analyzed reports of JEV found in field-caught mosquitoes as well as experimental vector competence studies. Based on the investigated publications, we classified 14 species as confirmed vectors for JEV due to their documented experimental vector competence and evidence of JEV found in wild mosquitoes. Additionally, we identified 11 mosquito species, belonging to five genera, with an experimentally confirmed vector competence for JEV but lacking evidence on their JEV transmission capacity from field-caught mosquitoes. Our study highlights the diversity of confirmed and potential JEV vector species. We also emphasize the variety in the study design of vector competence investigations. To account for the diversity of the vector species and regional circumstances, JEV vector competence should be studied in the local context, using local mosquitoes with local virus strains under local climate conditions to achieve reliable data. In addition, harmonization of the design of vector competence experiments would lead to better comparable data, informing vector and disease control measures.
Topics: Animals; Disease Vectors; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese; Encephalitis, Japanese; Geography, Medical; Global Health; Humans; Mosquito Vectors; Population Surveillance
PubMed: 34208737
DOI: 10.3390/v13061154 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2022Public and animal health authorities face many challenges in surveillance and control of vector-borne diseases. Those challenges are principally due to the multitude of...
Public and animal health authorities face many challenges in surveillance and control of vector-borne diseases. Those challenges are principally due to the multitude of interactions between vertebrate hosts, pathogens, and vectors in continuously changing environments. VectorNet, a joint project of the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) facilitates risk assessments of VBD threats through the collection, mapping and sharing of distribution data for ticks, mosquitoes, sand flies, and biting midges that are vectors of pathogens of importance to animal and/or human health in Europe. We describe the development and maintenance of this One Health network that celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020 and the value of its most tangible outputs, the vector distribution maps, that are freely available online and its raw data on request. VectorNet encourages usage of these maps by health professionals and participation, sharing and usage of the raw data by the network and other experts in the science community. For the latter, a more complete technical description of the mapping procedure will be submitted elsewhere.
Topics: Animals; Disease Vectors; Europe
PubMed: 35444989
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2022.809763 -
Frontiers in Cellular and Infection... 2020
Topics: Arthropod Vectors; Disease Vectors; Host-Pathogen Interactions
PubMed: 33194846
DOI: 10.3389/fcimb.2020.609495 -
International Journal For Parasitology.... Apr 2017Vector-borne diseases are responsible for significant health problems in humans, as well as in companion and farm animals. Killing the vectors with ectoparasitic drugs... (Review)
Review
Vector-borne diseases are responsible for significant health problems in humans, as well as in companion and farm animals. Killing the vectors with ectoparasitic drugs before they have the opportunity to pass on their pathogens could be the ideal way to prevent vector borne diseases. Blocking of transmission might work when transmission is delayed during blood meal, as often happens in ticks. The recently described systemic isoxazolines have been shown to successfully prevent disease transmission under conditions of delayed pathogen transfer. However, if the pathogen is transmitted immediately at bite as it is the case with most insects, blocking transmission becomes only possible if ectoparasiticides prevent the vector from landing on or, at least, from biting the host. Chemical entities exhibiting repellent activity in addition to fast killing, like pyrethroids, could prevent pathogen transmission even in cases of immediate transfer. Successful blocking depends on effective action in the context of the extremely diverse life-cycles of vectors and vector-borne pathogens of medical and veterinary importance which are summarized in this review. This complexity leads to important parameters to consider for ectoparasiticide research and when considering the ideal drug profile for preventing disease transmission.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Domestic; Arachnid Vectors; Bites and Stings; Drug Discovery; Infection Control; Infections; Insect Vectors; Pyrethrins; Tick-Borne Diseases
PubMed: 28189117
DOI: 10.1016/j.ijpddr.2017.01.004 -
Virologica Sinica Feb 2018Mosquitoes are classified into approximately 3500 species and further grouped into 41 genera. Epidemiologically, they are considered to be among the most important... (Review)
Review
Mosquitoes are classified into approximately 3500 species and further grouped into 41 genera. Epidemiologically, they are considered to be among the most important disease vectors in the world and they can harbor a wide variety of viruses. Several mosquito viruses are considered to be of significant medical importance and can cause serious public health issues throughout the world. Such viruses are Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), dengue virus (DENV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and Zika virus (ZIKV). Others are the newly recognized mosquito viruses such as Banna virus (BAV) and Yunnan orbivirus (YNOV) with unclear medical significance. The remaining mosquito viruses are those that naturally infect mosquitoes but do not appear to infect humans or other vertebrates. With the continuous development and improvement of mosquito and mosquito-associated virus surveillance systems in China, many novel mosquito-associated viruses have been discovered in recent years. This review aims to systematically outline the history, characteristics, distribution, and/or current epidemic status of mosquito-associated viruses in China.
Topics: Animals; China; Disease Transmission, Infectious; Humans; Mosquito Vectors; Virus Diseases; Viruses
PubMed: 29532388
DOI: 10.1007/s12250-018-0002-9 -
Viruses Oct 2021A substantial number of humans are at risk for infection by vector-borne flaviviruses, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. These viruses also... (Review)
Review
A substantial number of humans are at risk for infection by vector-borne flaviviruses, resulting in considerable morbidity and mortality worldwide. These viruses also infect wildlife at a considerable rate, persistently cycling between ticks/mosquitoes and small mammals and reptiles and non-human primates and humans. Substantially increasing evidence of viral persistence in wildlife continues to be reported. In addition to in humans, viral persistence has been shown to establish in mammalian, reptile, arachnid, and mosquito systems, as well as insect cell lines. Although a considerable amount of research has centered on the potential roles of defective virus particles, autophagy and/or apoptosis-induced evasion of the immune response, and the precise mechanism of these features in flavivirus persistence have yet to be elucidated. In this review, we present findings that aid in understanding how vector-borne flavivirus persistence is established in wildlife. Research studies to be discussed include determining the critical roles universal flavivirus non-structural proteins played in flaviviral persistence, the advancement of animal models of viral persistence, and studying host factors that allow vector-borne flavivirus replication without destructive effects on infected cells. These findings underscore the viral-host relationships in wildlife animals and could be used to elucidate the underlying mechanisms responsible for the establishment of viral persistence in these animals.
Topics: Animals; Animals, Wild; Central Nervous System Viral Diseases; Culicidae; Disease Vectors; Flavivirus; Flavivirus Infections; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; Insect Vectors; Mosquito Vectors; Ticks
PubMed: 34696529
DOI: 10.3390/v13102099 -
Infectious Diseases of Poverty May 2019Drylands, which are among the biosphere's most naturally limiting and environmentally variable ecosystems, constitute three-quarters of the African continent. As a... (Review)
Review
BACKGROUND
Drylands, which are among the biosphere's most naturally limiting and environmentally variable ecosystems, constitute three-quarters of the African continent. As a result, environmental sustainability and human development along with vector-borne disease (VBD) control historically have been especially challenging in Africa, particularly in the sub-Saharan and Sahelian drylands. Here, the VBD burden, food insecurity, environmental degradation, and social vulnerability are particularly severe. Changing climate can exacerbate the legion of environmental health threats in Africa, the social dimensions of which are now part of the international development agenda. Accordingly, the need to better understand the dynamics and complex coupling of populations and environments as exemplified by drylands is increasingly recognized as critical to the design of more sustainable interventions.
MAIN BODY
This scoping review examines the challenge of vector-borne disease control in drylands with a focus on Africa, and the dramatic, ongoing environmental and social changes taking place. Dryland societies persisted and even flourished in the past despite changing climates, extreme and unpredictable weather, and marginal conditions for agriculture. Yet intrusive forces largely out of the control of traditional dryland societies, along with the negative impacts of globalization, have contributed to the erosion of dryland's cultural and natural resources. This has led to the loss of resilience underlying the adaptive capacity formerly widely exhibited among dryland societies. A growing body of evidence from studies of environmental and natural resource management demonstrates how, in light of dryland system's inherent complexity, these factors and top-down interventions can impede sustainable development and vector-borne disease control. Strengthening adaptive capacity through community-based, participatory methods that build on local knowledge and are tailored to local ecological conditions, hold the best promise of reversing current trends.
CONCLUSIONS
A significant opportunity exists to simultaneously address the increasing threat of vector-borne diseases and climate change through methods aimed at strengthening adaptive capacity. The integrative framework and methods based on social-ecological systems and resilience theory offers a novel set of tools that allow multiple threats and sources of vulnerability to be addressed in combination. Integration of recent advances in vector borne disease ecology and wider deployment of these tools could help reverse the negative social and environmental trends currently seen in African drylands.
Topics: Africa; Agriculture; Animals; Climate Change; Communicable Disease Control; Desert Climate; Disease Vectors; Ecosystem; Humans; Insect Vectors; Parasitic Diseases; Risk Factors; Rural Population; Socioeconomic Factors
PubMed: 31130141
DOI: 10.1186/s40249-019-0539-3 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2020
Topics: Animals; Communicable Diseases; Disease Vectors; Humans; Vector Borne Diseases
PubMed: 32733830
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2020.00214 -
Viruses Nov 2019We reviewed the literature on the role of temperature in transmission of zoonotic arboviruses. Vector competence is affected by both direct and indirect effects of... (Review)
Review
We reviewed the literature on the role of temperature in transmission of zoonotic arboviruses. Vector competence is affected by both direct and indirect effects of temperature, and generally increases with increasing temperature, but results may vary by vector species, population, and viral strain. Temperature additionally has a significant influence on life history traits of vectors at both immature and adult life stages, and for important behaviors such as blood-feeding and mating. Similar to vector competence, temperature effects on life history traits can vary by species and population. Vector, host, and viral distributions are all affected by temperature, and are generally expected to change with increased temperatures predicted under climate change. Arboviruses are generally expected to shift poleward and to higher elevations under climate change, yet significant variability on fine geographic scales is likely. Temperature effects are generally unimodal, with increases in abundance up to an optimum, and then decreases at high temperatures. Improved vector distribution information could facilitate future distribution modeling. A wide variety of approaches have been used to model viral distributions, although most research has focused on the West Nile virus. Direct temperature effects are frequently observed, as are indirect effects, such as through droughts, where temperature interacts with rainfall. Thermal biology approaches hold much promise for syntheses across viruses, vectors, and hosts, yet future studies must consider the specificity of interactions and the dynamic nature of evolving biological systems.
Topics: Animals; Arboviruses; Climate Change; Disease Vectors; Ecosystem; Mosquito Vectors; Species Specificity; Temperature; Vector Borne Diseases; West Nile virus
PubMed: 31683823
DOI: 10.3390/v11111013 -
Parasites & Vectors Nov 2022Large populations of unowned cats constitute an animal welfare, ecological, societal and public health issue worldwide. Their relocation and homing are currently carried... (Review)
Review
Large populations of unowned cats constitute an animal welfare, ecological, societal and public health issue worldwide. Their relocation and homing are currently carried out in many parts of the world with the intention of relieving suffering and social problems, while contributing to ethical and humane population control in these cat populations. An understanding of an individual cat's lifestyle and disease status by veterinary team professionals and those working with cat charities can help to prevent severe cat stress and the spread of feline pathogens, especially vector-borne pathogens, which can be overlooked in cats. In this article, we discuss the issue of relocation and homing of unowned cats from a global perspective. We also review zoonotic and non-zoonotic infectious agents of cats and give a list of practical recommendations for veterinary team professionals dealing with homing cats. Finally, we present a consensus statement consolidated at the 15th Symposium of the Companion Vector-Borne Diseases (CVBD) World Forum in 2020, ultimately to help veterinary team professionals understand the problem and the role they have in helping to prevent and manage vector-borne and other pathogens in relocated cats.
Topics: Cats; Animals; Disease Vectors; Animal Welfare; Cat Diseases
PubMed: 36348395
DOI: 10.1186/s13071-022-05553-8