Public Health Entomology PDF

Preface

Public health disease control efforts are immensely valuable. Historically, infectious diseases exacted a heavy toll on human societies. For example, in a small family cemetery plot near Natchez, Mississippi, the tombstones reveal that 7/8 (88%) of one couple's children died by the age of 18. These deaths were likely a result of childhood infectious diseases, based on the seasonal patterns of the dates of death (on separate occasions two or more children died within days of each other). We might speculate that these deaths were due to yellow fever as it occurred in several waves up and down the Mississippi River during the 1800s, but nonetheless, this family was devastated by infectious diseases.

Despite what some people think, infectious diseases, and specifically (the subject of this book), vector-borne diseases, have by no means been conquered in modern times. In fact, good arguments can be made that they are winning the war for survival against humans. Diseases continue to emerge and reemerge worldwide, and many of them are vector- borne. Take Chikungunya (CHIK), for example. This disease, which originated in Africa, is carried by mosquitoes and causes intense pain in the joints that can last for months or years. Results of recent research show that CHIK's rapid spread in Asia was launched by a single mutation in an African strain of the virus. The alteration was seemingly insignificant-a single amino acid change in one of the virus's exterior envelope proteins-leading one researcher to compare it to "a single missing comma in a six-page short story." But this mutation enabled the virus to efficiently infect Aedes albopictus, a species of mosquito found nearly worldwide (and common in the eastern United States). The mutated CHIK virus has taken full advantage of its new host, infecting millions of people as it spread across India, Thailand, and Malaysia. CHIK could easily become the next West Nile in the United States, and rapid and systematic vector surveillance and control will be needed to combat the spread of the disease should it be introduced here. There are many other examples of emerging or reemerging vector-borne diseases, such as dengue fever, which continues to ravage much of Central and South America and the Caribbean. Of special concern to people living in the United States is the establishment of locally acquired dengue cases in 2009 and 2010 in Florida. Further spread of dengue in the southeastern United States is likely.

In the struggle against vector-borne diseases there is a great need for information that can bridge the gap between vector control workers on the ground (practitioners) and public health program planners and administrators. The Centers for Disease Control and the World Health Organization have provided limited guidance in this niche, which is freely available online; however, no comprehensive reference books are available. Although there are a number of very good texts available on the biology, ecology, and control of vector-borne diseases, there is no book that comprehensively looks at vector-borne disease prevention, surveillance, and control from a governmental or public health perspective. That is precisely what Public Health Entomology aims to do, and I hope you find it useful. As always, I solicit your comments and feedback. They will help me refine the work for future editions.