Category: Uncategorised

  • Greening Urban Landscapes: A Climate-Resilient Future with Mosquito Challenges in Mind

    Greening Urban Landscapes: A Climate-Resilient Future with Mosquito Challenges in Mind

    The effects of climate change are numerous and vary depending on the environment. Combating these effects is a particular challenge for urban areas, especially densely populated cities, where climate-related environmental changes can negatively impact the health of human (and animal) populations that live there, such as through the urban heat island effect, increasing adverse weather…

  • Increased risk of infectious diseases in a time of war and conflict

    Increased risk of infectious diseases in a time of war and conflict

    © Rick / Stock.adobe.com War and conflict throughout history have resulted in the suffering and deaths of countless people who did not participate as combatants. Unchecked murder, pillaging and destruction have been inflicted both as a form of terror on the conquered and a bounty for the victors. Lack of concern for non-combatants (and those…

  • Malaria-free Cabo Verde: a public health success!

    Malaria-free Cabo Verde: a public health success!

    WHO Director-General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, Prime Minister of Cabo Verde H.E. Ulisses Correia e Silva and Minister of Health of Cabo Verde Filomena Mendes Gonçalves at a ceremony on 12 January 2024 to certify the country’s elimination of malaria. From https://www.who.int/news/item/12-01-2024-who-certifies-cabo-verde-as-malaria-free–marking-a-historic-milestone-in-the-fight-against-malaria WHO / JacsSpoor An archipelago of volcanic islands off the coast of West…

  • A new potential way of tracking malaria incubation periods in mosquitos

    A new potential way of tracking malaria incubation periods in mosquitos

    © PitiyaO / Getty Images / iStock In many developing countries, malaria is a leading cause of disease and death. Via transmission through mosquitos, the responsible Plasmodium parasites have infected and impacted countless lives throughout history, prompting the writer John Whitfield to write in 2002, “Malaria may have killed half of all the people that…

  • Whole genomes from the population of the Faroe Islands

    Whole genomes from the population of the Faroe Islands

    private picture : Hannes Gislason Genetic population isolate Archaeological research suggests that the Faroe Islands were founded in two pre-Viking phases around 300-500 AD and 500-700 AD, before the Viking settlements in the 9th century. This population is well-suited for genetic research because it was geographically isolated. Indeed, the current population of about 50,000 people…

  • AlertaChirimacha: Tracking Kissing Bugs Byte by Byte

    AlertaChirimacha: Tracking Kissing Bugs Byte by Byte

    Promotional material for the AlertaChirimacha campaign (chirimacha is the local word for triatomines), showing Facebook page (a), Flyer image (b) and post indicating that triatomines have been found locally (c). From Tamayo LD, et al, 2023 Chagas Disease and Triatomines – The Basics Chagas Disease, primarily endemic to Latin America, is caused by the parasite…

  • sNailed it: Unlocking the potential of citizen science to control and prevent snail-borne diseases

    sNailed it: Unlocking the potential of citizen science to control and prevent snail-borne diseases

    A citizen research from the Citizen Science ATRAP project, collecting snails from local water bodies. Photo ©Brees/ATRAP Nobody chooses where to be born, but have you ever wondered how this fact affects your health? In 2021, Ashepet and colleagues revealed a map displaying co-existing vector-borne diseases worldwide. In Europe and North America, the number of…

  • Parasites, vectors and vector-borne diseases in the news

    Parasites, vectors and vector-borne diseases in the news

    We’re living in a world where we’re mostly bombarded by horrible news from the media we consume, and parasites, vectors and vector-borne diseases are seldom featured. While it’s completely understandable that a person would choose to tune out all the terrible and/or irrelevant information, sometimes we can pick up some relevant stuff. Here, I share…

  • Lessons from the successful elimination of trachoma in Togo

    Lessons from the successful elimination of trachoma in Togo

    Togo WHO validation ceremony Trachoma is the leading cause of blindness due to an infection. Caused by the bacterium Chlamydia trachomatis, it affects marginalized and impoverished communities in 43 countries around the world. Trachoma spreads through personal contact, contaminated items, and by flies attracted to the eyes or nose of an infected person. Repeated infections…