![]() For example, spraying mosquito breeding grounds with insecticide can be an effective control. Treatment and prevention strategies for malaria focus on the mosquito vector. ![]() Vector-borne diseases can be treated, and even prevented, by interrupting the vector-mediated transmission between the infected host and the susceptible person or animal. The West Nile virus that causes this disease has spread as far north as Canada, where it can be transmitted by mosquitoes during the warmer months of the year and even during the cooler days of spring by mosquitoes that have survived the winter. One example of a vector-borne disease found in more temperate regions is the mosquito-borne disease called West Nile disease. While some diseases, such as malaria, are concentrated in tropical equatorial regions of the globe, other diseases can occur in more temperate climates. ![]() Even today, several hundred thousand people are infected each year and about 30,000 die, according to the World Health Organization. A noteworthy outbreak occurred during the construction of the Panama Canal. In tropical regions, devastating outbreaks of yellow fever have occurred over the past several hundred years. Another viral disease caused by a member of the Flavivirus genus, the disease is transferred from the host (a type of monkey) to humans via a mosquito. Infection of the lungs (pneumonic plague) is almost always fatal within a week if not treated.Ī final example of a vector-borne disease is yellow fever. There are several types of plague, depending on the site of the infection. Both can feed on an infected rat and subsequently spread the infection to a human that they bite. The vector that transmits the bacterium from rodents to humans is another rat or, more commonly, a flea. Passages found in the Old Testament of the Bible describe the ravages of epidemics of plague. The disease, which is caused by Yersinia pestis, is ancient. Still another bacterial vector-borne disease is plague. It is very debilitating if not treated promptly, and can cause severe fatigue, joint pain, and heart trouble that can persist for years even when the disease is diagnosed and treated. Lyme disease is caused by a bacterium called Borrelia burgdorferi. The disease, which is transmitted from contaminated animals such as deer to humans by the bite of several species of tick, is the most prevalent tick-borne ailment in North America. Lyme disease is also a vector-borne disease. The virus is transmitted from the host to the susceptible person by a species of mosquito called Aedes aegypti. Dengue is caused by a virus in the Flavivirus genus. ![]() As with malaria, the vector is a mosquito.ĭengue hemorrhagic fever is another example of a vector-borne disease. An example is western equine encephalitis, in which the host is a bird that is infected by the disease-causing species of arbovirus and the recipient is a horse or a human. Alternatively, the host and recipient can belong to different species. A well-known example of this is malaria, in which the protozoan that causes the infection is acquired from an infected person by a mosquito during a blood meal and transferred to another human that the mosquito subsequently feeds on. The host and recipient can belong to the same species. Vector-borne diseases are characterized by the vectormediated movement of a microorganism (such as a bacterium, virus, or protozoa) from the host to a recipient. Disease History, Characteristics, and Transmission There are numerous examples of vector-borne diseases that involve a variety of pathogens and vectors, including such well-known maladies as malaria, yellow fever, Lyme disease, plague, and West Nile disease. Put another way, a vector is the means by which microbes can get from their normal place of residence, where they typically cause no harm, to a susceptible organism, in which an infection results. ![]() Vector-borne disease refers to the transmission of a disease that is caused by a microorganism from one organism (the host) to another organism via a third organism (the vector). ![]()
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