Emerging and resurging vector-borne diseases cause significant morbidity and mortality, especially in the developing world. We focus on how advances in mapping, Geographic Information System, and Decision Support System technologies, and progress in spatial and space time modeling, can be harnessed to prevent and control these diseases.
Recently, in the province of Trapani (Western Sicily), some overwintering specimens of the argasid tick Argas (Persicargas) persicus (Oken, 1818) were observed and collected. Morphological and genetic analysis were utilized in order to reach a definitive identification.
Climate and vegetation in Spain vary from north to south, affecting tick distribution and consequently the presence of tick-borne diseases. The aim of this study was to investigate throughout a 2-yr study the distribution of the different exophilic questing tick species present in 18 areas: eight located in central and 10 in northern Spain.
Hungary is regarded as free of leishmaniasis because only a few imported cases have been reported. However, southern Hungary has a sub-Mediterranean climate, and so it was included in the EU FP6 EDEN project, which aimed to map the northern limits of canine leishmaniasis (CanL) in Europe.
Phlebotomus papatasi (Scopoli) (Diptera: Psychodidae) is the main vector of Leishmania major Yakimoff & Schokhor (Kinetoplastida: Trypanosomatidae), the causative agent of zoonotic cutaneous leishmaniasis in the Old World.
The presence of the disease was shown in the canine population for the first time in 2007 by indirect fluorescent antibody test (IFAT). The parasite circulation was confirmed also by direct diagnostic tools, as PCR, cytology and cultural method, performed on different bioptic materials.
This article, included in The Journal of Infectious Diseases special supplement on measles and rubella, provides an overview of the affected groups and the public settings in which measles transmission occurred in Europe in 2005–2009.
The authors present an appraisal of the pneumococcal epidemiological situation in 11 Central European countries. Data are based on study findings presented at the 12th Central European Vaccine Advisory Group (CEVAG) meeting, held on 21–22 May 2010 in Sofia, Bulgaria, and a literature review of the PubMed database.