History of domestication and spread of Aedes aegypti--a review.
TL;DR: This work integrates the available information including genetics, behaviour, morphology, ecology and biogeography of the mosquito, with human history to reach a realistic and comprehensive understanding of this important vector of yellow fever, dengue and Chikungunya.
Abstract: The adaptation of insect vectors of human diseases to breed in human habitats (domestication) is one of the most important phenomena in medical entomology. Considerable data are available on the vector mosquito Aedes aegypti in this regard and here we integrate the available information including genetics, behaviour, morphology, ecology and biogeography of the mosquito, with human history. We emphasise the tremendous amount of variation possessed by Ae. aegypti for virtually all traits considered. Typological thinking needs to be abandoned to reach a realistic and comprehensive understanding of this important vector of yellow fever, dengue and Chikungunya.
Citations
More filters
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors compile the largest contemporary database for both species and pair it with relevant environmental variables predicting their global distribution, showing Aedes distributions to be the widest ever recorded; now extensive in all continents, including North America and Europe.
Abstract: Dengue and chikungunya are increasing global public health concerns due to their rapid geographical spread and increasing disease burden. Knowledge of the contemporary distribution of their shared vectors, Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus remains incomplete and is complicated by an ongoing range expansion fuelled by increased global trade and travel. Mapping the global distribution of these vectors and the geographical determinants of their ranges is essential for public health planning. Here we compile the largest contemporary database for both species and pair it with relevant environmental variables predicting their global distribution. We show Aedes distributions to be the widest ever recorded; now extensive in all continents, including North America and Europe. These maps will help define the spatial limits of current autochthonous transmission of dengue and chikungunya viruses. It is only with this kind of rigorous entomological baseline that we can hope to project future health impacts of these viruses.
1,416 citations
Journal Article•
TL;DR: This work compile the largest contemporary database for both species and pair it with relevant environmental variables predicting their global distribution, showing Aedes distributions to be the widest ever recorded; now extensive in all continents, including North America and Europe.
1,002 citations
Cites background from "History of domestication and spread..."
...…mosquitoes feeding almost exclusively on humans (Bargielowski et al., 2013), larvae develop preferentially in artificial containers in close association with human habitation, often in urban settings (Lounibos, 2002; Honório et al., 2003; Brown et al., 2011, 2014; Powell and Tabachnick, 2013)....
[...]
...As both species have been shown to inhabit a wide variety of urban and peri-urban settings with various degrees of intensity (Powell and Tabachnick, 2013; Li et al., 2014), it is likely that the simple urban/rural distinction of our urbanicity covariate did not sufficiently capture this variation…...
[...]
University of Oxford1, Harvard University2, Boston Children's Hospital3, University of Washington4, University of London5, Université libre de Bruxelles6, University of Nottingham7, RTI International8, University of Notre Dame9, University of Southampton10, Fudan University11, National University of Defense Technology12, Central South University13, Southwestern University of Finance and Economics14, Pan American Health Organization15, European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control16, Institute of Tropical Medicine Antwerp17, Colorado State University18, ETH Zurich19, Karolinska Institutet20, Stockholm School of Economics21, Pasteur Institute22, Université de Namur23, University of California, Davis24, University of Melbourne25
TL;DR: It is shown that human movement patterns explain the spread of both Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus in Europe and the United States following their introduction and predicted the future distributions of both species in response to accelerating urbanization, connectivity and climate change.
Abstract: The global population at risk from mosquito-borne diseases-including dengue, yellow fever, chikungunya and Zika-is expanding in concert with changes in the distribution of two key vectors: Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus. The distribution of these species is largely driven by both human movement and the presence of suitable climate. Using statistical mapping techniques, we show that human movement patterns explain the spread of both species in Europe and the United States following their introduction. We find that the spread of Ae. aegypti is characterized by long distance importations, while Ae. albopictus has expanded more along the fringes of its distribution. We describe these processes and predict the future distributions of both species in response to accelerating urbanization, connectivity and climate change. Global surveillance and control efforts that aim to mitigate the spread of chikungunya, dengue, yellow fever and Zika viruses must consider the so far unabated spread of these mosquitos. Our maps and predictions offer an opportunity to strategically target surveillance and control programmes and thereby augment efforts to reduce arbovirus burden in human populations globally.
605 citations
TL;DR: The history and epidemiology of ZikV infection, recent outbreaks in Oceania and the emergence of ZIKV in the Western Hemisphere, newly ascribed complications of Zika virus infection, including Guillain-Barré syndrome and microcephaly, potential interactions between ZikaV and dengue virus, and the prospects for the development of antiviral agents and vaccines are discussed.
Abstract: Zika virus (ZIKV) had remained a relatively obscure flavivirus until a recent series of outbreaks accompanied by unexpectedly severe clinical complications brought this virus into the spotlight as causing an infection of global public health concern. In this review, we discuss the history and epidemiology of ZIKV infection, recent outbreaks in Oceania and the emergence of ZIKV in the Western Hemisphere, newly ascribed complications of ZIKV infection, including Guillain-Barre syndrome and microcephaly, potential interactions between ZIKV and dengue virus, and the prospects for the development of antiviral agents and vaccines.
388 citations
TL;DR: It is demonstrated for the first time that A. aegypti and A. albopictus populations throughout the continent are highly competent to transmit chikungunya virus irrespective of the viral genotypes tested, suggesting the role of salivary glands in selecting CHIKV for highly efficient transmission.
Abstract: Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) causes a major public health problem. In 2004, CHIKV began an unprecedented global expansion and has been responsible for epidemics in Africa, Asia, islands in the Indian Ocean region, and surprisingly, in temperate regions, such as Europe. Intriguingly, no local transmission of chikungunya virus (CHIKV) had been reported in the Americas until recently, despite the presence of vectors and annually reported imported cases. Here, we assessed the vector competence of 35 American Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquito populations for three CHIKV genotypes. We also compared the number of viral particles of different CHIKV strains in mosquito saliva at two different times postinfection. Primarily, viral dissemination rates were high for all mosquito populations irrespective of the tested CHIKV isolate. In contrast, differences in transmission efficiency (TE) were underlined in populations of both species through the Americas, suggesting the role of salivary glands in selecting CHIKV for highly efficient transmission. Nonetheless, both mosquito species were capable of transmitting all three CHIKV genotypes, and TE reached alarming rates as high as 83.3% and 96.7% in A. aegypti and A. albopictus populations, respectively. A. albopictus better transmitted the epidemic mutant strain CHIKV_0621 of the East-Central-South African (ECSA) genotype than did A. aegypti, whereas the latter species was more capable of transmitting the original ECSA CHIKV_115 strain and also the Asian genotype CHIKV_NC. Therefore, a high risk of establishment and spread of CHIKV throughout the tropical, subtropical, and even temperate regions of the Americas is more real than ever.
IMPORTANCE Until recently, the Americas had never reported chikungunya (CHIK) autochthonous transmission despite its global expansion beginning in 2004. Large regions of the continent are highly infested with Aedes aegypti and Aedes albopictus mosquitoes, and millions of dengue (DEN) cases are annually recorded. Indeed, DEN virus and CHIK virus (CHIKV) share the same vectors. Due to a recent CHIK outbreak affecting Caribbean islands, the need for a Pan-American evaluation of vector competence was compelling as a key parameter in assessing the epidemic risk. We demonstrated for the first time that A. aegypti and A. albopictus populations throughout the continent are highly competent to transmit CHIK irrespective of the viral genotypes tested. The risk of CHIK spreading throughout the tropical, subtropical, and even temperate regions of the Americas is more than ever a reality. In light of our results, local authorities should immediately pursue and reinforce epidemiological and entomological surveillance to avoid a severe epidemic.
342 citations
References
More filters
Book•
[...]
TL;DR: Professor McNeill, through an accumulation of evidence, demonstrates the central role of pestilence in human affairs and the extent to which it has changed the course of history.
Abstract: This book describes the dramatic impact of infectious diseases on the rise and fall of civilisations. Plague demoralized the Athenian army during the Peloponnesian war, and ravaged the Roman Empire. In the 16th century smallpox was the decisive agent that allowed Cortez with only 600 men to conquer the Aztec empire, whose subjects numbered millions. As recently as 1918-19 an epidemic of influenza claimed twenty-one million victims, and seemed to threaten civilization itself. Diseases such as syphilis, cholera, smallpox and malariahave been devastating to humanity for centuries. Now professor McNeill, through an accumulation of evidence, demonstrates the central role of pestilence in human affairs and the extent to which it has changed the course of history.
1,263 citations
TL;DR: Propagule pressure, previous success, and adaptations to human habits appear to favor successful invasions by vectors, such as anthropophilic fleas, lice, kissing bugs, and mosquitoes.
Abstract: Nonindigenous vectors that arrive, establish, and spread in new areas have fomented throughout recorded history epidemics of human diseases such as malaria, yellow fever, typhus, and plague. Although some vagile vectors, such as adults of black flies, biting midges, and tsetse flies, have dispersed into new habitats by flight or wind, human-aided transport is responsible for the arrival and spread of most invasive vectors, such as anthropophilic fleas, lice, kissing bugs, and mosquitoes. From the fifteenth century to the present, successive waves of invasion of the vector mosquitoes Aedes aegypti, the Culex pipiens Complex, and, most recently, Aedes albopictus have been facilitated by worldwide ship transport. Aircraft have been comparatively unimportant for the transport of mosquito invaders. Mosquito species that occupy transportable container habitats, such as water-holding automobile tires, have been especially successful as recent invaders. Propagule pressure, previous success, and adaptations to human habits appear to favor successful invasions by vectors.
753 citations
"History of domestication and spread..." refers background in this paper
...Lounibos (2002) provides an excellent synopsis of the importance of invasiveness in insect vectors....
[...]
TL;DR: This gradual rather than abrupt termination of the African Humid Period in the eastern Sahara suggests a relatively weak biogeophysical feedback on climate.
Abstract: Desiccation of the Sahara since the middle Holocene has eradicated all but a few natural archives recording its transition from a "green Sahara" to the present hyperarid desert. Our continuous 6000- year paleoenvironmental reconstruction from northern Chad shows progressive drying of the regional terrestrial ecosystem in response to weakening insolation forcing of the African monsoon and abrupt hydrological change in the local aquatic ecosystem controlled by site- specific thresholds. Strong reductions in tropical trees and then Sahelian grassland cover allowed large- scale dust mobilization from 4300 calendar years before the present ( cal yr B. P.). Today's desert ecosystem and regional wind regime were established around 2700 cal yr B. P. This gradual rather than abrupt termination of the African Humid Period in the eastern Sahara suggests a relatively weak biogeophysical feedback on climate.
607 citations
"History of domestication and spread..." refers background in this paper
...The adaptation for oviposition preference may have been part of the overall evolution of domesticity that likely occurred in North Africa when ancestral sylvan Aaf became isolated from sub-Saharan Africa due to the Sahara Desert (Tabachnick 1991)....
[...]
...Two scenarios have been put forward for the origin of the light-coloured domestic subspecies, Ae. aegypti aegypti (for ease of communication, from here on we refer to forest-breeding populations in sub-Saharan Africa as the classically defined formosus subspecies as Aaf and the light coloured populations outside of outside Africa as Aaa....
[...]
...It is almost certain that the ancestor of the domestic form of Ae. aegypti lived in sub-Saharan Africa....
[...]
...Here we focus on Aedes aegypti, a widespread species of mosquito that has both domestic populations as well as the ancestral type that still extant in sub-Saharan Africa....
[...]
...The species was likely once more widespread including in forested northern Africa before the formation of the Sahara Desert....
[...]
Book•
01 Mar 1990
TL;DR: Human genome research is one of the dominant themes of science in the 1990s and new technologies and concepts are emerging from the analysis of other organisms' genes and chromosomes.
Abstract: Human genome research is one of the dominant themes of science in the 1990s. To assist its progress, new technologies and concepts are emerging from the analysis of other organisms' genes and chromosomes. Since 1980, Genetic Maps has been the only comprehensive source for comparative data on the gen
337 citations
"History of domestication and spread..." refers background in this paper
...Many of the patterns have close resemblance to single gene Mendelian mutations known for this species (Munstermann 1993)....
[...]
TL;DR: A population genetic model for vector competence is proposed and recent progress in testing this model is discussed and approaches being taken to identify the genes that may control flavivirus susceptibility in Ae.
336 citations