CLIMATE CHANGE AND VECTOR-BORNE DISEASES IN SOUTHERN EUROPE

Abstract

Vector-borne infections have always caused suffering throughout the history. Thealliance of arthropods and microorganisms is hard to defeat as insecticides anddrugs proved to be temporary solutions. Since our questionable victory overmalaria and yellow fever in the midst of the last century, vectors gradually broadentheir sovereignty in the presence of our oblivion. The infrastructure for surveillanceand control of vectors is neglected and in the last decades we tend to prioritizechronic diseases rather than infections. Expanding air travel and marine transport,increasing global trade and travel provoked the globalization of vectors andpathogens. Climate change, especially the northerly stretch of temperate zonepromote and sustain the incursion of exotic vectors like Aedes albopictus inSouthern Europe bringing along tropical diseases like Chikungunya. Denguebecoming hyperendemic around the world is looking for a competent vector inSouthern Europe while Aedes aegypti is trying to take hold in Portugal and Spain.West Nile Virus, an emerging encephalitis threat is gradually increasing itsepidemic potential in Europe. The widening man-made environments andanthropogenic changes like global warming affect the behavior and populationdynamics of vectors as well as the evolution of pathogens causing dramatic changesin disease prevalence and even severity. Today we may well be in the brink ofresurgence of vector-borne infections so we need to assess current and future risks,and conduct effective surveillance.