Although vector biologist Carolina BarillasMury is annoyed by mosquito bites just as much as anyone else, she has learned to respect the tiny insects. “It’s amazing what they can do,” she says. “They’re like little drones with very simple programs, but they’re able to accomplish remarkable things.” Her words may sound like surprising praise for a malariacarrying species once labeled the world’s...

BACKGROUND & OBJECTIVES Many essential oils have been reported as natural sources of insect repellents; however, due to high volatility, they present low repellent effect. Formulation technique by using microencapsulation enables to control the volatility of essential oil and thereby extends the duration of repellency. In this study, the effectiveness of microencapsulated essential oils of Alpi...

This paper describes a social media system to prevent dengue in Sri Lanka and potentially in the rest of the South and Southeast Asia regions. The system integrates three concepts of public health prevention that have thus far been implemented only in silos. First, the predictive surveillance component uses a computer simulation to forewarn health authorities and the general public about impend...

LYMFASIM is a simulation model for lymphatic filariasis transmission and control. We quantified its parameters to simulate Wuchereria bancrofti transmission by Anopheles mosquitoes in African villages, using a wide variety of reported data. The developed model captures the general epidemiological patterns, but also the differences between communities. It was calibrated to represent the relation...

We propose a stochastic model for the relationship between the entomologic inoculation rate (EIR) for Plasmodium falciparum malaria and the force of infection in endemic areas. The model incorporates effects of increased exposure to mosquito bites as a result of the growth in body surface area with the age of the host, naturally acquired pre-erythrocytic immunity, and the reduction in the propo...

BACKGROUND Recently, attention to chikungunya has increased due to its spread into previously non-endemic areas. Since there is no available treatment or vaccine, most intervention strategies focus on mosquito bite prevention and mosquito control, which require community involvement to be successful. Thus, our objective was to systematically review the global primary literature on the risk perc...

results upon the results from literature search, the researchers found that human is the main reservoir for this virus. there are four serotypes of virus. infection with one serotype cannot protect human against the other three serotypes. dengue fever begins suddenly with an onset of an influenza-like syndrome and sometimes progresses to severe form of the disease. treatment is supportive and i...

There has been no local transmission of arbovirus disease recorded in New Zealand to date. However, the past two decades, there have increasing numbers overseas-acquired cases infections Zealand, mainly dengue, Zika, chikungunya and Ross River viruses. The repeated introduction these viruses immunologically naïve population through viraemic travellers represents a potential risk for by resident...