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Vector-borne Diseases and Global Health

Despite considerable advances in public health worldwide, vector-borne diseases remain major determinants of human morbidity and mortality. Diseases such as malaria, trypanosomiasis, leishmaniasis and arthropod-borne hemorrhagic fevers kill nearly one million people annually and figure prominently in the disability-adjusted life years index (DALY). The global health impact of these diseases has received increasing attention recently with emergence and globalization of vectors, transmitted pathogens and human hosts. Chagas disease is becoming a worldwide threat, zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis has reached epidemic proportions in the Middle East and rapidly increasing global travel and commerce have led to emergence of insect-transmitted pathogens such as West Nile Virus in The United States. This Special Series will focus on emerging and re-emerging vector-borne diseases, with attention to evolving global epidemiology of leishmaniasis, Chagas disease and arthropod-borne hemorrhagic diseases. Articles will consider evolving concepts in vector ecology, parasite biology, human responses and immunopathology and novel methods for control of pathogen transmission. Additionally, latest advances in human therapeutics and drug discovery will be explored.

All articles in this series have undergone the journal’s standard peer-review process and each article can also be found individually in the journal.

Collection published: 29 January 2015

View all collections published in Parasites & Vectors

  1. Identification of the microflora of the sand fly gut and the environmental distribution of these bacteria are important components for paratransgenic control of Leishmania transmission by sand flies.

    Authors: Naseh Maleki-Ravasan, Mohammad Ali Oshaghi, Davoud Afshar, Mohammad Hossein Arandian, Sara Hajikhani, Amir Ahmad Akhavan, Bagher Yakhchali, Mohammad Hasan Shirazi, Yavar Rassi, Reza Jafari, Koorosh Aminian, Reza Ali Fazeli-Varzaneh and Ravi Durvasula
    Citation: Parasites & Vectors 2015 8:63