Control and Management of Vector-Borne Diseases in Disaster Conditions

Disasters are a set of unexpected situations that occur as a result of natural misadventure or human manipulations. Depending on the type, time, and location of the events, the insect population causing vector-borne diseases is affected, which may eventually lead to widespread epidemics. Parasitic diseases such as malaria, leishmaniosis, arboviral diseases such as dengue fever, West Nile encephalitis and Crimean-Congo fever that are transmitted to humans, in disasters by mosquitoes and ticks increased in the foci and may even be able to create new emerge foci. For example, the waters due to heavy rains create favorable larval habitats for Culicidae mosquitoes. Depending on the distribution areas and the presence or absence of pathogens in the area, this situation will lead to rapid reproduction of the mosquitoes of the genera Anopheles, vectors of malaria parasite, Culex, main vectors of West Nile virus and Aedes, vectors of dengue and chikungunya viruses. At the same time, the disruption of current insect control programs in health networks results in the progressive proliferation of insects which are involved in vector-borne diseases such as flies and cockroaches. In order to manage the crisis situation, appropriate arrangements must be involved in advance, and action plans, as well as precautions, should be prepared, including a set of actions crisis, in the early days, and after disasters. The programs should organize medical entomologists, vector control experts, as well as defining their position and role. These actions should also be undertaken to determine the available resources and to provide equipment and means of vector control and personal protection tools, to control arthropods of medical importance, as well as to the endemic centers of the diseases transmitted. Finally, it is also necessary to develop diagnostic protocols and provide operational solutions for practical control appropriate to each regionchr('39')s capabilities. In the present study, changes in vector-borne diseases patterns and vector populations, as well as strategies for their management and control in disaster situations in the Islamic Republic of Iran are discussed.