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Cited by 458Climate Change and Health ImpactsVector-borne infectious diseasesMosquito-borne diseases and control

Vector-borne diseases and climate change: a European perspective

Open access
Semenza, Jan C, Suk, Jonathan E·2018·FEMS Microbiology Letters
DOI 10.1093/femsle/fnx244PMC PMC5812531
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Abstract

Climate change has already impacted the transmission of a wide range of vector-borne diseases in Europe, and it will continue to do so in the coming decades. Climate change has been implicated in the observed shift of ticks to elevated altitudes and latitudes, notably including the Ixodes ricinus tick species that is a vector for Lyme borreliosis and tick-borne encephalitis. Climate change is also thought to have been a factor in the expansion of other important disease vectors in Europe: Aedes albopictus (the Asian tiger mosquito), which transmits diseases such as Zika, dengue and chikungunya, and Phlebotomus sandfly species, which transmits diseases including Leishmaniasis. In addition, highly elevated temperatures in the summer of 2010 have been associated with an epidemic of West Nile Fever in Southeast Europe and subsequent outbreaks have been linked to summer temperature anomalies. Future climate-sensitive health impacts are challenging to project quantitatively, in part due to the intricate interplay between non-climatic and climatic drivers, weather-sensitive pathogens and climate-change adaptation. Moreover, globalisation and international air travel contribute to pathogen and vector dispersion internationally. Nevertheless, monitoring forecasts of meteorological conditions can help detect epidemic precursors of vector-borne disease outbreaks and serve as early warning systems for risk reduction.

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Cited by

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Authors
Semenza, J. C., & Suk, J. E.
Affiliations
European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (SE)
Corresponding author
Semenza, Jan C
ORCID
Venue
FEMS Microbiology Letters
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Published
2017-11-15
Volume
365
Issue
2
ISSN
  • 0378-1097 (ISSN-L)
  • 1574-6968
DOI
10.1093/femsle/fnx244
PMC
PMC5812531
OpenAlex
W2768665307
Cited by
458
References
4
Citations by year
2026: 45 · 2025: 73 · 2024: 55 · 2023: 57 · 2022: 61 · 2021: 62 · 2020: 52 · 2019: 33 · 2018: 19 · 2012: 1
FWCI
2.97
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Licence
cc-by
Locations
  • FEMS Microbiology Letters (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Environmental Science › Health, Toxicology and Mutagenesis › Climate Change and Health Impacts
  • Life Sciences › Immunology and Microbiology › Parasitology › Vector-borne infectious diseases
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Public Health, Environmental and Occupational Health › Mosquito-borne diseases and control
Keywords
vector-borne diseases, climate change, Ixodes ricinus, Lyme disease, tick-borne encephalitis, Aedes albopictus, Zika virus, dengue, chikungunya, Phlebotomus sand flies, leishmaniasis, West Nile fever, temperature anomalies, epidemic forecasting, early warning systems, climate change adaptation, Europe
MeSH terms
Animals, Disease Outbreaks, Europe, Forecasting, Humans, Insect Vectors, Culicidae, Psychodidae, Ticks, Climate Change

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