Arbovirus Infections: the Challenges of Controlling an Ever-Present Enemy

Abstract

Arthropod-borne infections carried by mosquitoes and ticks are difficult to eradicate, once rooted, and have frequently caused wide-area epidemics such as dengue fever, West Nile fever, chikungunya fever, yellow fever, Japanese encephalitis and Rift Valley fever. Factors such as global warming and overpopulation have aggravated urban epidemics caused by dengue and chikungunya viruses. Measures against arthropods have their limitations, however, so nonepidemic areas must be protected against invasion by vector-borne diseases through quarantine, education and effective vaccination.