Geography

Temperature shapes the geographic distribution, seasonality, and magnitude of mosquito-borne disease outbreaks. Models predicting transmission often use mosquito and pathogen thermal responses measured at constant temperatures. However, mosquitoes live in fluctuating temperatures. Rate summation––non-linear averaging of trait values measured at constant temperatures—is commonly used to infer performance in fluctuating environments, but its accuracy is rarely […]

Read more "Mean daily temperatures predict the thermal limits of malaria transmission better than hourly rate summation"

Arboviruses transmitted mainly by Aedes (Stegomyia) aegypti and Ae. albopictus, including dengue, chikungunya, and Zika viruses, and yellow fever virus in urban settings, pose an escalating global threat. Existing risk maps, often hampered by surveillance biases, may underestimate or misrepresent the true distribution of these diseases and do not incorporate epidemiological similarities despite shared vector species. We address this by […]

Read more "The overlapping global distribution of dengue, chikungunya, Zika and yellow fever"

Global risk maps are an important tool for assessing the global threat of mosquito and tick-transmitted arboviral diseases. Public health officials increasingly rely on risk maps to understand the drivers of transmission, forecast spread, identify gaps in surveillance, estimate disease burden, and target and evaluate the impact of interventions. This paper describes how current approaches […]

Read more "Why the growth of arboviral diseases necessitates a new generation of global risk maps and future projections"