There's a big market for new treatments for TB, malaria and other ailments. But most of these diseases afflict low-income people unable to pay for medicine.
In January, measles returned to the Pacific Northwest, while Ebola resurged in the Congo. It would take a lot more research for scientists to be able to stop threats like these in their tracks.
A female Anopheles stephensi mosquito bites a human to get a blood meal through its pointed proboscis. A droplet of blood is expelled from the abdomen after having engorged itself.
Jim Gathany/Wikimedia Commons
Researchers are exploring genetic forms of population control called gene drives that spread traits faster that happens naturally. The goal is to curb mosquito-borne diseases like malaria.
The mosquitoes that spread Japanese encephalitis are usually found in wetlands and drainage ditches, and will be out biting mostly at dawn and dusk.
Bryon Lippincott/Flikr
Japanese encephalitis virus is rare and doesn't usually cause symptoms. But in a small proportion of cases it can result in long-term neurological impairment and death.
Warmer temperatures could lead to more zones of the country that make good breeding sites for mosquitoes.
Apichart Meesri / Shutterstock.com
Is our changing climate making regions of the US more suitable for ticks and mosquitoes that spread diseases? Or is the climate changing human physiology making us more vulnerable?
Climate change also has an impact on public health.
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Scientists need to continue working across disciplines to find ways to disrupt disease transmission in the context of climate change.
More than 3.9 billion people live in regions where the Aedes aegypti mosquito is present. This species transmits Zika, dengue, chikungunya, and yellow fever.
mycteria/Shutterstock.com
For several billion people mosquitoes are more than a nuisance -- they transmit deadly diseases. Now genetic modification may prove the most effective defense against the mosquito, preventing disease.
Mosquito abundance is linked to climate and weather, and global climate change may be helping spread these dangerous carriers of disease.
Psorophora ferox female, a potential vector for Madariaga virus. Photo taken on Heritage Island, Anacostia River, in Washington, D.C., June 30, 2012.
Wikimedia Commons
The collapse of Venezuela's public health system has terrible consequences inside the country, but it also is giving rise to mosquito-borne viruses that could spread to nearby countries.
A female deer tick on a piece of straw.
Steve Ellingson/Shutterstock.com
Olivier Telle, Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS)
The spread of infectious diseases such as chikungunya is closely linked to urban mobility, yet small Indian cities could play a crucial role in the resilience process.
An infection prevention and control professional wipes her gloves with a bleach wipe during an ebola virus training in Ottawa.
(THE CANADIAN PRESS/Justin Tang)
Infectious diseases pose a continual threat to Canadians. Ensuring the population stays healthy requires increasing investment in our public health system.
Vast amounts of standing water in Houston and other hurricane-flooded areas are dangerous not only because of toxins. The water is a dangerous breeding ground for mosquitoes that transmit Zika.
Visiting Distinguished Professor of Environmental Studies, Brown University, USA, and Distinguished Professor, Public Health and Medical Anthropology, University of the Witwatersrand
Associate Dean For Global One Health, College of Veterinary Medicine & Biomedical Sciences; and Director, Pandemic and Biosecurity Policy Program, Scowcroft Institute for International Affairs, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University