Abstract
An estimated 60– 75% of the world’s infectious diseases of humans are zoonotic, infecting both humans and other animals. Many are vectorborne, relying on transmission by mosquitoes and biting flies that are aquatic for much of their lifespan. Others rely on aquatic molluscs, fishes, or other aquatic animals for completion of their transmission cycles, and others develop and thrive in diverse freshwater environments outside any host. While such diseases remain firmly endemic in many areas, new outbreaks of infectious diseases associated with freshwater have occurred throughout the world, and many others have spread to new locations. This may involve introduction of aquatic vectors into locations where the disease was previously unknown, as in the recent occurrences of mosquito-transmitted diseases such as West Nile Virus in North America, dengue fever in southern Europe, Chikungunya virus in the Caribbean and South America, and dirofilariasis in Central and Eastern Europe. Such a pattern is also possible with such major human pathogens as Schistosoma blood flukes and food-borne trematodes, through introduction of aquatic host snails from long-established foci in other areas. Alternatively, waterborne pathogens may be introduced directly, leading to disease outbreaks such as the cholera disaster still unfolding in Haiti. Accidental or intentional introduction of pathogens or their aquatic vectors and hosts are among the primary concerns that affect international trade, travel, and global health security. These concerns are compounded by the prospect of warming climate, potentially resulting in primarily tropical diseases encroaching into historically subtropical or temperate regions. Thus, we must be prepared for the possibility of geographic spread of diseases into areas where they have not occurred, or reintroduction into areas where they once occurred but have been eliminated through control measures. For example, North America and Europe are at risk for reintroduction of such major “tropical” diseases as malaria and yellow fever, and thus must come under increasing scrutiny, starting with surveillance of freshwater systems for both established and potentially invasive vector and host populations. This critical perspective paper briefly reviews selected previous cases in which aquatic invasive species have contributed to infectious disease emergence, re-emergence, or increase, and proposes One Health strategies for integrating human, animal, and environmental monitoring and surveillance to better prepare for or prevent geographic spread of major human health threats associated with aquatic systems.
Highlights
Among the many negative consequences of biological invasions, perhaps the most potentially damaging involve the introduction of new human, animal, and zoonotic pathogens into geographic areas that were previously free from the associated diseases (Conn 2009). Such introduced pathogens are themselves invasive species, but since infectious diseases are typically studied by a different community of scientists than are invasive species, the bodies of literature and their associated terminology are usually different
Such diseases can be assigned to the categories of: 1) water-borne such as typhoid and cholera; 2) water-carried such as cryptosporidiosis and giardiasis; 3) water-based such as schistosomiasis and diphyllobothriasis; 4) waterrelated such as malaria, dengue, chikungunya, and filariasis; 5) water-washed such as trachoma and viral conjunctivitis; and 6) water-dispersed such as Legionellosis
If competent Anopheles vectors of malaria, or Aedes vectors of dengue, Chikungunya or other viruses are present in an area, new invasion of that area by the pathogen requires only the movement of infected human or animal hosts into the area
Summary
Among the many negative consequences of biological invasions, perhaps the most potentially damaging involve the introduction of new human, animal, and zoonotic (i.e., human-animal) pathogens into geographic areas that were previously free from the associated diseases (Conn 2009). If competent Anopheles vectors of malaria, or Aedes vectors of dengue, Chikungunya or other viruses are present in an area, new invasion of that area by the pathogen requires only the movement of infected human or animal hosts into the area For this reason, situations such as this are regarded as major public health concerns (Rogers et al 2006; Reiter 2010). One Health approaches have applicability for detecting and preparing for potential future emerging disease outbreaks associated with mosquito vectors Along these lines, RuizMoreno et al (2012) have suggested strategies to monitor populations of invasive Ae. albopictus populations in North American freshwater systems as a means to prepare for an impending introduction of chikungunya virus into the United States. Bioinvasion scientists should search for other models that foster integration of invasive species studies with biomonitoring and surveillance for human and animal disease agents, helping to ensure One Health for all
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