Disease vectors are living organisms, typically arthropods such as mosquitoes, ticks, fleas, sandflies, and triatomine bugs, that biologically or mechanically transmit pathogenic agents between hosts, thereby enabling the spread of infectious diseases within populations and ecosystems. In vector-borne disease systems, pathogens often undergo essential developmental or replication stages within the vector (biological transmission), or are passively carried on contaminated body parts (mechanical transmission). Research on disease vectors encompasses their ecology, population dynamics, host-feeding behavior, vector competence, insecticide resistance, and interactions with environmental and climatic factors, informing surveillance, risk modeling, and integrated vector management strategies for disease control.
New research is shining a light on one of genetics' enduring puzzles—how the workings of the so-called "selfish gene" could be harnessed to control harmful insect populations. By understanding the molecular basis of a selfish ...
Plants & Animals
Sep 18, 2025
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New research into the genetics of Anopheles funestus (An. funestus), one of the most neglected but prolific malaria-transmitting mosquitoes in Africa, has revealed how this species is evolving in response to malaria control ...
Evolution
Sep 18, 2025
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A new study suggests that the risk of mosquito-borne illness in Brazil will rise significantly by the year 2080, but that climate action could help. Katherine Heath of the Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Australia, and colleagues ...
Ecology
Sep 18, 2025
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A parasitic fly whose maggots can infest living livestock, birds, pets and humans, could threaten California soon.
Plants & Animals
Sep 18, 2025
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A new study published in the journal Science of The Total Environment has significant bearing on the hackneyed joke about chickens and their numerous reasons for crossing roads. In Florida, there's a good chance that the ...
Ecology
Sep 16, 2025
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37
A new species of bacteria of the genus Bartonella has been found in the Amazon National Park in the state of Pará, Brazil, in phlebotomine insects, also known as sand flies. This type of insect is generally associated with ...
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 27, 2025
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A new study from North Carolina State University looked at reducing between-farm infections by modeling a new way of routing the trucks that transport feed and livestock between pig farms and from farms to market. The rerouting ...
Biotechnology
Aug 18, 2025
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Babesiosis is an infectious disease that manifests like malaria and spreads like Lyme disease. Once rare in the United States, it is now becoming more prevalent, particularly in the Northeast, Mid-Atlantic, and Upper Midwest.
Cell & Microbiology
Aug 18, 2025
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26
Aphids. You might stumble across them in your backyard, snacking on your veggie patch, in fields and orchards where crops are grown and even along roadsides.
Ecology
Aug 12, 2025
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23
A drug that makes human blood lethal to mosquitoes also acts as a potent contact insecticide absorbed through the feet, providing a promising new approach to combating insecticide resistance.
Ecology
Aug 7, 2025
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