The challenge of vector-borne disease.
Insect vectors are responsible for major global human suffering due to the diseases they transmit. These include viral infections transmitted by insects, such as chikungunya, dengue, Zika, Japanese encephalitis and yellow fever, and parasitic diseases such as malaria and leishmaniasis. Zika Fever is only decades old as a human disease, while malaria is as old as humanity itself. Insect vector-borne veterinary diseases such as bluetongue and Schmallenberg, caused by viruses, are responsible for large economic losses in European and global animal industries. Bloodfeeding insects can act as a bridge allowing unknown animal pathogens to jump into human hosts, and obscure local diseases can explode into global epidemics after just a few mutations, as apparently happened with chikungunya and Zika viruses. The diseases transmitted by insect vectors can be controlled by attacking the vector, either eliminating it or reducing its ability to transmit the pathogen. Indeed, for many vector-borne diseases, vector control is the only effective means of control. The goal of the Infravec2 project is to support research on insect disease vectors, to understand the biology of disease transmission in order to develop new tools and strategies to control current and future public health threats.
Social importance of insect vector research.
Vector-borne diseases have historically been considered a problem of tropical countries. Within the space of a few decades, vector-transmitted diseases and epidemics have now also become a threat to temperate regions of the world including much of Europe. A contributing factor has been the spread of different invasive mosquito species, particularly the Asian tiger mosquito Aedes albopictus, worldwide including into Europe. The increased risk of vector-borne diseases for the European population is a trend that will continue as a consequence of the global movement and expansion of the range of mosquito vectors, and probably other social as well as climatic changes. Thus, vector-borne disease is now a durable and permanent new public health concern in Europe. Just as the vectors and diseases changed to move to new environments, we also must adapt the forms of public health measure implemented to meet the new challenges with vector surveillance, research, and new forms of vector control.
Objectives of Infravec2 for insect vector research and control.
The overall objective of Infravec2 is to integrate key specialized research facilities necessary for European excellence in insect vector biology, open them for access for vector researchers, and develop new vector control measures targeting the greatest threats to human health and animal industries. Working safely with infected insect vectors requires sophisticated and expensive infrastructures, which are not commonly available to many researchers. The lack of access to these unique facilities is currently a significant bottleneck for vector biology research and vector control development. The important vectors range from mosquitoes, considered the world’s most lethal animal, the less well known but common sandflies, the barely visible Culicoides midges and nymphal ticks, and numerous other groups. The 24 Infravec2 partners, including four commercial companies, run the major European facilities for the study of insect vectors. With EU funding, Infravec2 is able to offer access to these facilities at no cost to qualified researchers in Europe and worldwide. Access to these infrastructures and resources is boosting progress in innovative vector research, building a robust vector research community, and will facilitate the development of new vector control tools.
We had used incorrect exchange rates which the auditors had picked up. This has resulted in an adjustment of EUR 1,617.20 in Period 1, an adjustment of EUR 94.03 in Period 2, an adjustment of EUR 129.20 in Period 3.
