Swarms of locusts are seen on a tree in a residential area in the southwestern Pakistan city of Quetta on June 12, 2020.
BANARAS KHAN/AFP via Getty Images
Gene drive guarantees that a trait will be passed to the next generation. But should society use this tool to control insect populations?
In 2018 scientists of the Miami-Dade County Mosquito Control tested a new way to suppress mosquito populations carrying the Zika virus.
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Brian Allan, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Chris Stone, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Holly Tuten, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Jennifer Kuzma, North Carolina State University, and Natalie Kofler, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
Release of GM mosquitoes in Florida is imminent. But a multidisciplinary team of scientists believe that more studies are needed first. They encourage a publicly accessible registry for GM organisms.
The pangolin, one of the most poached animals in the world, could have served as an intermediate host in the transmission of SARS-CoV-2 to humans.
Wahyudi/AFP
The declaration does not mean the risk to Canadians has changed, but it does mean Canada must step up to help those countries with weaker heath-care systems.
Although yellow fever does not currently exist in Australia, the species Aedes aegypti - which can transmit the disease - is found widely across northern Queensland. The virus remains a global health concern, but citizen scientists could help prevent its spread.
Simon Kutcher/flickr
Nuisance-biting and mosquito-borne disease are ongoing concerns for health authorities. But an effective citizen science program is now showing how all of us can help beat the bite of mozzies.
Millions of young children get malaria. These two got it in 2010.
AP Photo/Schalk van Zuydam
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.
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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
Deputy Director, Pandemic & Biosecurity Policy Program, Scowcroft Institute of International Affairs, Bush School of Government and Public Service, Texas A&M University