-
Annali Dell'Istituto Superiore Di Sanita 2016Risks associated with climate change are increasing worldwide and the global effects include altered weather and precipitation patterns, rising temperatures and others;... (Meta-Analysis)
Meta-Analysis Review
INTRODUCTION
Risks associated with climate change are increasing worldwide and the global effects include altered weather and precipitation patterns, rising temperatures and others; human health can be affected directly and indirectly. This paper is an overview of literature regarding climate changes, their interaction with vector-borne diseases and impact on working population.
MATERIALS AND METHODS
Articles regarding climate changes as drivers of vector-borne diseases and evidences of occupational cases have been picked up by public databank. Technical documents were also included in the study.
RESULTS
Evidences regarding the impact of climate changes on vector-borne diseases in Europe, provided by the analysis of the literature, are presented.
DISCUSSION
Climate-sensitive vector-borne diseases are likely to be emerging due to climate modifications, with impacts on public and occupational health. However, other environmental and anthropogenic drivers such as increasing travelling and trade, deforestation and reforestation, altered land use and urbanization can influence their spread. Further studies are necessary to better understand the phenomenon and implementation of adaptation strategies to protect human health should be accelerated and strengthened.
Topics: Animals; Climate Change; Disease Vectors; Encephalitis, Arbovirus; Humans; Occupational Health; Tick-Borne Diseases
PubMed: 27698298
DOI: 10.4415/ANN_16_03_11 -
PLoS Neglected Tropical Diseases Nov 2017Large spatial and temporal fluctuations in the population density of living organisms have profound consequences for biodiversity conservation, food production, pest...
BACKGROUND
Large spatial and temporal fluctuations in the population density of living organisms have profound consequences for biodiversity conservation, food production, pest control and disease control, especially vector-borne disease control. Chagas disease vector control based on insecticide spraying could benefit from improved concepts and methods to deal with spatial variations in vector population density.
METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS
We show that Taylor's law (TL) of fluctuation scaling describes accurately the mean and variance over space of relative abundance, by habitat, of four insect vectors of Chagas disease (Triatoma infestans, Triatoma guasayana, Triatoma garciabesi and Triatoma sordida) in 33,908 searches of people's dwellings and associated habitats in 79 field surveys in four districts in the Argentine Chaco region, before and after insecticide spraying. As TL predicts, the logarithm of the sample variance of bug relative abundance closely approximates a linear function of the logarithm of the sample mean of abundance in different habitats. Slopes of TL indicate spatial aggregation or variation in habitat suitability. Predictions of new mathematical models of the effect of vector control measures on TL agree overall with field data before and after community-wide spraying of insecticide.
CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE
A spatial Taylor's law identifies key habitats with high average infestation and spatially highly variable infestation, providing a new instrument for the control and elimination of the vectors of a major human disease.
Topics: Animals; Chagas Disease; Ecosystem; Humans; Insect Control; Insect Vectors; Models, Theoretical; Spatio-Temporal Analysis; Triatoma
PubMed: 29190728
DOI: 10.1371/journal.pntd.0006092 -
Revue Scientifique Et Technique... Apr 2015Vector-borne diseases are principally zoonotic diseases transmitted to humans by animals. Pathogens such as bacteria, parasites and viruses are primarily maintained... (Review)
Review
Vector-borne diseases are principally zoonotic diseases transmitted to humans by animals. Pathogens such as bacteria, parasites and viruses are primarily maintained within an enzootic cycle between populations of non-human primates or other mammals and largely non-anthropophilic vectors. This 'wild' cycle sometimes spills over in the form of occasional infections of humans and domestic animals. Lifestyle changes, incursions by humans into natural habitats and changes in agropastoral practices create opportunities that make the borders between wildlife and humans more permeable. Some vector-borne diseases have dispensed with the need for amplification in wild or domestic animals and they can now be directly transmitted to humans. This applies to some viruses (dengue and chikungunya) that have caused major epidemics. Bacteria of the genus Bartonella have reduced their transmission cycle to the minimum, with humans acting as reservoir, amplifier and disseminator. The design of control strategies for vector-borne diseases should be guided by research into emergence mechanisms in order to understand how a wild cycle can produce a pathogen that goes on to cause devastating urban epidemics.
Topics: Animals; Communicable Diseases; Disease Vectors; Humans; Urban Population; Zoonoses
PubMed: 26470456
DOI: No ID Found -
Ecology Letters Apr 2021Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are embedded within complex socio-ecological systems. While research has traditionally focused on the direct effects of VBDs on human... (Review)
Review
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) are embedded within complex socio-ecological systems. While research has traditionally focused on the direct effects of VBDs on human morbidity and mortality, it is increasingly clear that their impacts are much more pervasive. VBDs are dynamically linked to feedbacks between environmental conditions, vector ecology, disease burden, and societal responses that drive transmission. As a result, VBDs have had profound influence on human history. Mechanisms include: (1) killing or debilitating large numbers of people, with demographic and population-level impacts; (2) differentially affecting populations based on prior history of disease exposure, immunity, and resistance; (3) being weaponised to promote or justify hierarchies of power, colonialism, racism, classism and sexism; (4) catalysing changes in ideas, institutions, infrastructure, technologies and social practices in efforts to control disease outbreaks; and (5) changing human relationships with the land and environment. We use historical and archaeological evidence interpreted through an ecological lens to illustrate how VBDs have shaped society and culture, focusing on case studies from four pertinent VBDs: plague, malaria, yellow fever and trypanosomiasis. By comparing across diseases, time periods and geographies, we highlight the enormous scope and variety of mechanisms by which VBDs have influenced human history.
Topics: Disease Vectors; Humans; Malaria; Vector Borne Diseases
PubMed: 33501751
DOI: 10.1111/ele.13675 -
Vector Borne and Zoonotic Diseases... Jan 2017
Topics: Animals; Communicable Disease Control; Communication; Disease Vectors; Europe; Humans; Internationality; Neglected Diseases; Zoonoses
PubMed: 28055577
DOI: 10.1089/vbz.2016.29002.cha -
Trends in Microbiology May 2018More than 100 pathogens, spanning multiple virus families, broadly termed 'arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses)' have been associated with human and/or animal diseases.... (Review)
Review
More than 100 pathogens, spanning multiple virus families, broadly termed 'arthropod-borne viruses (arboviruses)' have been associated with human and/or animal diseases. These viruses persist in nature through transmission cycles that involve alternating replication in susceptible vertebrate and invertebrate hosts. Collectively, these viruses are among the greatest burdens to global health, due to their widespread prevalence, and the severe morbidity and mortality they cause in human and animal hosts. Specific examples of mosquito-borne pathogens include Zika virus (ZIKV), West Nile virus (WNV), dengue virus serotypes 1-4 (DENV 1-4), Japanese encephalitis virus (JEV), yellow fever virus (YFV), chikungunya virus (CHIKV), and Rift Valley fever virus (RVFV). Interactions between arboviruses and the immune pathways of vertebrate hosts have been extensively reviewed. In this review we focus on the antiviral immune pathways present in mosquitoes. We also discuss mechanisms by which mosquito-borne viruses may antagonize antiviral pathways in disease vectors. Finally, we elaborate on the possibility that mosquito-borne viruses may be engaged in an evolutionary arms race with their invertebrate vector hosts, and the possible implications of this for understanding the transmission of mosquito-borne viruses.
Topics: Adaptive Immunity; Animals; Antiviral Agents; Arbovirus Infections; Arboviruses; Chikungunya virus; Culicidae; Dengue Virus; Encephalitis Virus, Japanese; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; MicroRNAs; Mosquito Vectors; RNA Interference; RNA, Small Interfering; Rift Valley fever virus; Virus Replication; Yellow fever virus; Zika Virus
PubMed: 29395729
DOI: 10.1016/j.tim.2017.12.005 -
Frontiers in Public Health 2023
Topics: Animals; Humans; Disease Vectors; Vector Borne Diseases
PubMed: 38026402
DOI: 10.3389/fpubh.2023.1326243 -
Trends in Parasitology Aug 2015Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as malaria, dengue, and leishmaniasis cause a high level of morbidity and mortality. Although vector control tools can play a major... (Review)
Review
Vector-borne diseases (VBDs) such as malaria, dengue, and leishmaniasis cause a high level of morbidity and mortality. Although vector control tools can play a major role in controlling and eliminating these diseases, in many cases the evidence base for assessing the efficacy of vector control interventions is limited or not available. Studies assessing the efficacy of vector control interventions are often poorly conducted, which limits the return on investment of research funding. Here we outline the principal design features of Phase III vector control field studies, highlight major failings and strengths of published studies, and provide guidance on improving the design and conduct of vector control studies. We hope that this critical assessment will increase the impetus for more carefully considered and rigorous design of vector control studies.
Topics: Animals; Disease Vectors; Humans; Pest Control; Research Design
PubMed: 25999026
DOI: 10.1016/j.pt.2015.04.015 -
Frontiers in Immunology 2022Vector-borne diseases have high morbidity and mortality and are major health threats worldwide. γδT cells represent a small but essential subpopulation of T cells.... (Review)
Review
Vector-borne diseases have high morbidity and mortality and are major health threats worldwide. γδT cells represent a small but essential subpopulation of T cells. They reside in most human tissues and exert important functions in both natural and adaptive immune responses. Emerging evidence have shown that the activation and expansion of γδT cells invoked by pathogens play a diversified role in the regulation of host-pathogen interactions and disease progression. A better understanding of such a role for γδT cells may contribute significantly to developing novel preventative and therapeutic strategies. Herein, we summarize recent exciting findings in the field, with a focus on the role of γδT cells in the infection of vector-borne pathogens.
Topics: Animals; Disease Vectors; Host-Pathogen Interactions; Humans; T-Lymphocytes; Vector Borne Diseases
PubMed: 36052077
DOI: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.965503 -
Philosophical Transactions of the Royal... Apr 2015Vector-borne diseases continue to contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, and cause epidemics that disrupt health security and cause wider... (Review)
Review
Vector-borne diseases continue to contribute significantly to the global burden of disease, and cause epidemics that disrupt health security and cause wider socioeconomic impacts around the world. All are sensitive in different ways to weather and climate conditions, so that the ongoing trends of increasing temperature and more variable weather threaten to undermine recent global progress against these diseases. Here, we review the current state of the global public health effort to address this challenge, and outline related initiatives by the World Health Organization (WHO) and its partners. Much of the debate to date has centred on attribution of past changes in disease rates to climate change, and the use of scenario-based models to project future changes in risk for specific diseases. While these can give useful indications, the unavoidable uncertainty in such analyses, and contingency on other socioeconomic and public health determinants in the past or future, limit their utility as decision-support tools. For operational health agencies, the most pressing need is the strengthening of current disease control efforts to bring down current disease rates and manage short-term climate risks, which will, in turn, increase resilience to long-term climate change. The WHO and partner agencies are working through a range of programmes to (i) ensure political support and financial investment in preventive and curative interventions to bring down current disease burdens; (ii) promote a comprehensive approach to climate risk management; (iii) support applied research, through definition of global and regional research agendas, and targeted research initiatives on priority diseases and population groups.
Topics: Animals; Biomedical Research; Climate Change; Communicable Diseases; Disease Vectors; Health Policy; Humans; Public Health Administration
PubMed: 25688013
DOI: 10.1098/rstb.2013.0552