Climate Change and Emerging Arboviruses

A special issue of Microorganisms (ISSN 2076-2607). This special issue belongs to the section "Virology".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (15 February 2024) | Viewed by 9622

Special Issue Editors


E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Centre for Vector-Borne Diseases, Canadian Food Inspection Agency, Lethbridge, AB T1H 6P7, Canada
Interests: climate change; arboviruses; genomics; bioinformatics; machine learning; vector-borne diseases
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Galveston National Laboratory, University of Texas Medical Branch, Galveston, TX 77555-0610, USA
Interests: emerging infectious diseases; preparedness and response to infectious events and public health concerns; biosafety and biosecurity; vaccinology
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

It can be anticipated that climate change will affect the geographical distribution of many insect species vectoring human and animal arboviruses in the future. Climate change and globalization have already had a significant impact on the global range, vector competency, and composition of different species of arthropod vectors, including Culicoides biting midge, mosquito, and tick species fauna, potentially promoting the transmission of exotic viruses to previously disease-free areas.

In this Special Issue of Microorganisms (an open access publishing journal), we wish to publish reviews and research articles documenting current knowledge regarding the effect of climate change on the dispersal of emerging arboviruses. We encourage submissions that address topics of novel and emerging/re-emerging arboviruses in previously naïve areas using state-of-the-art genomics, bioinformatics. and machine learning approaches to project future high-risk areas for arboviral diseases. We would like to welcome you and your team to submit an article to this Special Issue based on your expertise in this field. 

Dr. Nariman Shahhosseini
Prof. Dr. Gary Kobinger
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Microorganisms is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2700 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • arboviruses
  • vector-borne viruses
  • genomics
  • viral hemorrhagic fevers
  • phylogenetics

Published Papers (3 papers)

Order results
Result details
Select all
Export citation of selected articles as:

Research

Jump to: Review

10 pages, 1716 KiB  
Article
Genetic Characterization of Sandfly-Borne Viruses in Phlebotomine Sandflies in Iran
by Nariman Shahhosseini, Sarah-Jo Paquette, Mohammad Hassan Kayedi, Mohammad Reza Abaei and Mohammad Mehdi Sedaghat
Microorganisms 2023, 11(11), 2754; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11112754 - 11 Nov 2023
Cited by 2 | Viewed by 824
Abstract
Phleboviruses are classified into two main groups: the sandfly fever group (transmitted by sandflies and mosquitoes) and the Uukuniemi group (transmitted by ticks). Old World sandfly-borne viruses (SBVs) are classified into four main serocomplexes; sandfly fever Naples viruses (SFNVs), sandfly fever Sicilian viruses [...] Read more.
Phleboviruses are classified into two main groups: the sandfly fever group (transmitted by sandflies and mosquitoes) and the Uukuniemi group (transmitted by ticks). Old World sandfly-borne viruses (SBVs) are classified into four main serocomplexes; sandfly fever Naples viruses (SFNVs), sandfly fever Sicilian viruses (SFSVs), Karimabad viruses (KARVs), and Salehabad viruses (SALVs). This study addresses current knowledge gaps on SBVs in Iran by focusing on identification and molecular epidemiology. We used PCR to examine DNA/RNA extracts to identify sandfly species and evaluate for SBV presence. We identified five specimens positive for phleboviruses: one Ph. sergenti for Tehran virus (TEHV), one Ph. papatasi for SFSV, and two Ph. papatasi and one Ph. perfiliewi for KARV. A phylogenetic tree indicated that the TEHV isolate from this study formed a cluster with previous isolates of TEHV, Zerdali virus, and Fermo virus. Meanwhile, the identified SFSV isolate fell in lineage I and was grouped with previous isolates of SFSVs and Dashli virus in Iran. Finally, the KARV isolates from this study formed a monophyletic clade in a sister relationship with other viruses in KARV lineages I and II. This comprehensive study on SBVs in Iran provided new insights into the molecular epidemiology of TEHV, SFSVs and KARVs in this country. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Emerging Arboviruses)
Show Figures

Figure 1

16 pages, 3066 KiB  
Article
Arbovirus Transmission Predictions Are Affected by Both Temperature Data Source and Modeling Methodologies across Cities in Colombia
by Víctor Hugo Peña-García, Jeffrey C. Luvall and Rebecca C. Christofferson
Microorganisms 2023, 11(5), 1249; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11051249 - 09 May 2023
Cited by 3 | Viewed by 1679
Abstract
Weather variables has been described as major drivers of vector proliferation and arbovirus transmission. Among them, temperature has consistently been found to be impactful in transmission dynamics, and models that incorporate temperature have been widely used to evaluate and forecast transmission or arboviruses [...] Read more.
Weather variables has been described as major drivers of vector proliferation and arbovirus transmission. Among them, temperature has consistently been found to be impactful in transmission dynamics, and models that incorporate temperature have been widely used to evaluate and forecast transmission or arboviruses like dengue, zika, or chikungunya virus. Further, there is growing evidence of the importance of micro-environmental temperatures in driving transmission of Aedes aegypti-borne viruses, as these mosquitoes tend to live within domiciles. Yet there is still a considerable gap in our understanding of how accounting for micro-environmental temperatures in models varies from the use of other widely-used, macro-level temperature measures. This effort combines field-collected data of both indoor and outdoor household associated temperatures and weather station temperature data from three Colombian cities to describe the relationship between the measures representing temperature at the micro- and macro-levels. These data indicate that weather station data may not accurately capture the temperature profiles of indoor micro-environments. However, using these data sources, the basic reproductive number for arboviruses was calculated by means of three modeling efforts to investigate whether temperature measure differences translated to differential transmission predictions. Across all three cities, it was determined that the modeling method was more often impactful rather than the temperature data-source, though no consistent pattern was immediately clear. This suggests that temperature data sources and modeling methods are important for precision in arbovirus transmission predictions, and more studies are needed to parse out this complex interaction. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Emerging Arboviruses)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Review

Jump to: Research

27 pages, 1234 KiB  
Review
Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease Virus: Current Knowledge and Emerging Perspectives
by Luis Jiménez-Cabello, Sergio Utrilla-Trigo, Gema Lorenzo, Javier Ortego and Eva Calvo-Pinilla
Microorganisms 2023, 11(5), 1339; https://doi.org/10.3390/microorganisms11051339 - 19 May 2023
Cited by 8 | Viewed by 5429
Abstract
Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) of ruminants is a viral pathology that has significant welfare, social, and economic implications. The causative agent, epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV), belongs to the Orbivirus genus and leads to significant regional disease outbreaks among livestock and wildlife in [...] Read more.
Epizootic Hemorrhagic Disease (EHD) of ruminants is a viral pathology that has significant welfare, social, and economic implications. The causative agent, epizootic hemorrhagic disease virus (EHDV), belongs to the Orbivirus genus and leads to significant regional disease outbreaks among livestock and wildlife in North America, Asia, Africa, and Oceania, causing significant morbidity and mortality. During the past decade, this viral disease has become a real threat for countries of the Mediterranean basin, with the recent occurrence of several important outbreaks in livestock. Moreover, the European Union registered the first cases of EHDV ever detected within its territory. Competent vectors involved in viral transmission, Culicoides midges, are expanding its distribution, conceivably due to global climate change. Therefore, livestock and wild ruminants around the globe are at risk for this serious disease. This review provides an overview of current knowledge about EHDV, including changes of distribution and virulence, an examination of different animal models of disease, and a discussion about potential treatments to control the disease. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Climate Change and Emerging Arboviruses)
Show Figures

Figure 1

Back to TopTop