Review of “Ecology of parasite-vector interactions” by Willem Takken and Constantianus J.M. Koenraadt

Abstract

Book detailsTakken D, Koenraadt CJM: Ecology of parasite-vector in-teractions. Wageningen Academic Publishers; 2013. 272pages. ISBN 978–9086861880.ReviewThe increasing importance of vector-borne diseases ismirrored by the large number of papers published, bythe emergence of dedicated new high-quality journalsand also by a significant number of books publishedrecently on this topic. This enormous quantity of datamakes it difficult for scientists to filter the relevanthigh-quality from the average science. Excellent reviewcollections, like this text, render the task more manage-able. The third volume of the edited series “Ecology andcontrol of vector-borne diseases” started in 2007, brings12 contributed chapters grouped in three main sections:(1) Fundamental aspects of vector-parasite interactions;(2) Species-specific interactions and (3) Strategic issuesconcerning vector-parasite interactions. Despite the titleof the book, which seems broad and general, the vastmajority of contributions refer to mosquitoes and mos-quito-borne diseases while other vectors are either poorlyrepresented (i.e. ticks, sandflies) or completely absent(fleas, tsetse flies, triatomines etc.).In the first section, the chapter “Impact of transgenicimmune deployment on mosquito fitness” (by Pike et al.)presents brief reviews on the mosquito innate immunesystem and principles of mosquito transgenesis, followedby a detailed and well- referenced discussion on the im-pact of transgenic expression on the survival and fitnessof mosquitoes under natural conditions. The chapter“Plant-sugar feeding and vectorial capacity” (by Stoneand Foster) is an extensive and excellent review ofthe alternative feeding sources on plants of otherwisehematophagous insects followed by its impact on thevectorial capacity of mosquitoes and sandflies. “Vectorcompetence for arboviruses in relation to the larval envi-ronment of mosquitoes” (by Alto and Lounibos) summa-rizestheresultsofstudiesontheeffectofnutrition,competition, temperature and insecticides during thelarval development on the vectorial transmission ofarboviruses in adult mosquitoes. An overview on therisk prediction for malaria transmission depending onthermal variations is discussed in “Relevant tempera-tures in mosquito and malaria biology” (by Paaijmansand Thomas). A fine summary chapter, “Evolutionaryaspects of Anopheles-Plasmodium interactions” (byLambrechts and Koella) highlights the importance ofthe (co)evolutionary viewpoint for the better unders-tanding of the history, distribution and dynamics ofmalaria transmission.Included in the second section is an interesting andwell-written article “Tick-Borrelia interactions: burdenor benefit” (by Gassner and Hartemink). Based on ex-perimental trials and field observations on theBorrelia-induced behavioural changes in ticks, the authors proposea theoretical model for assessing the impact of the fitnesseffect of the infection on larval survival. A brief, but verywell- documented section is “Wolbachia in Aedes mosqui-toes: towards biological control of vector-borne diseases”(by Moreira). The author reviews the potential value ofusing the endosymbiotic bacterium Wolbachia as a pos-sible practical solution for the biological control of humanvector-borne diseases. The chapter “Behaviour of sandfliesinfected with Leishmania” (by Ready and Rogers), reviewsthe mechanisms of manipulation by Leishmania ofsandflies feeding on mammalian hosts in order to en-hance parasites transmission, as well as the experimen-tal models to study such pathogen-vector interactions.In the third section, the chapter “Modelling the controlof mosquito-borne diseases” (by North and Hancock) is avery well-focused overview on the strategies for